


Is It About The Chase Or The Girl?

by Sishopper



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Demisexual Character, Demisexuality, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, I wrote this before I knew what demi was, Lily is demisexual, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Quidditch, Romance, Sirius Black & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Slow Burn, aces are valid, aspec character, based on my own experiences, but aspec needs more representation, demis are valid, its not a huge thing in this but it explains characterization, jily, so it was unintentional
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 06:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 45,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23673805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sishopper/pseuds/Sishopper
Summary: The relationship between James Potter and Lily Evans hasn't always been trustworthy, their arguments most often heated. What changes between them, to the point that James finally gets the girl of his dreams? And just how do the Marauders and the war factor in? Starts from the summer after fifth year.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black & Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew & James Potter
Comments: 7
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: This fic is currently complete and was posted on another site years ago. As such, it is being revised prior to posting on this site, and so it isn't the exact same as what has already been published. Because it's already mostly written, I'm hoping to maintain a decent posting schedule. All comments are appreciated, and I hope you enjoy!  
> Beta'd by the amazing hellocookie

_The rain pours down, shattering the cement. It tears through the road and rips out the grass, trickles through the cracks in the roof, and strikes the windows with enough force to rattle them. The streets are turned into rolling rivers, flowing with a viciousness that resembles a verifiable force of nature on its own._

_You can feel it in your bones, and you rejoice and praise in its homecoming. It is both calming and catastrophic, rendering it a conflicting mass of power to people and nature surrounding around it. It's coming, you can always tell. It arrives with dark clouds, in a deep grey sky and it changes the world to match._

_If you're outside when it happens, it's like you can almost smell the change and destruction of wildlife and the rips and tears of human life, almost able to sense the imminent arrival of utter destruction. It is powerful and strong, a force not to be reckoned with. And yet some do not realize just how murderous it can be._

_For it has no fear, since there is nothing that can harm it. But it is the thing most victims fear, because it holds the unknown._

OoOoO

The sky seemed to be looming over the family car, just coming from King's Cross Station in London. Lily Evans had spent most of her day looking up at the sky, admiring the rain and ignoring the painful memories that beckoned from the corners of her mind. When she paused long enough, they all came rushing back to her.

_After writing their O.W.L. exams for Defence Against the Dark Arts, Lily and her friends decided to head out onto the castle’s grounds to enjoy the spring weather. Lily managed to look over her transfiguration notes while her friends relaxed beside her until she saw a crowd gathering around a clump of students. Knowing that it had something to do with Severus and Potter, she stood up and stormed over to try to dispatch the crowd._

_She arrived just in time to hear James utter what she was sure was some cutting remark, followed by 'Scourgify!’. She watched as pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape's mouth; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him until Lily was close enough to do something._

_'Leave him ALONE!' she bellowed, pink patches covering her cheeks in her anger. She wanted to punch James in the face –and she would've too, if they'd been alone. But her duties as Prefect kept her in place, not wanting to set a poor example for the younger students._

_James and Sirius turned round with James' free hand immediately jumping to his hair, just as Lily approached the boys. 'All right, Evans?' said James, and the tone of his voice was suddenly irritatingly conversational, as if he wasn't just choking her best friend on the ground with soap._

_'Leave him alone,' Lily repeated. Lily stared at James, her face revealing every sign of her great dislike of him. 'What's he done to you?'_

_'Well,' said James, appearing to deliberate the point, 'it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean…' Many of the surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Peter included, but Lily didn't, and nor did Remus Lupin._

_'You think you're funny,' she said coldly. 'But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone.' She swore in her mind as soon as she saw James' response cross his mind. She knew before he even opened his mouth what he would say and she cursed vehemently when she was not proven wrong._

_'I will if you go out with me, Evans,' said James quickly, practically jumping at the opening that Lily had inadvertently given him. 'Go on… go out with me and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again.' Behind him, the_ Impediment Jinx _was wearing off, though James was so focused on the redhead before him that he paid no attention to Snape; spitting out soapsuds as he crawled, Severus was beginning to inch towards his fallen wand._

_'I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid,' exclaimed Lily adamantly._

_'Bad luck, Prongs,' said Sirius briskly, turning his focus back to Snape. 'Oi!' But too late; Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood._

_Lily's heart froze and her mind went blank. She stared, her mouth opened slightly in shock, and unable to prevent what happened next._

_James whirled about and a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside-down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of graying underpants. Many people in the small crowd cheered; Sirius, James and Pettigrew roared with laughter._

_Lily shoved away her feelings to deal with later, though she was unable to stop her furious expression from twitching into a small smile. She forced the ironic memories of when she had cast the very same jinx on her best friend –in private! –after he made a sarcastic comment about wanting to see what type of undergarments the elderly, heavyset Professor Taylor wore out of her mind. Her furious expression back in full force, she turned back to James and snarled viciously, 'Let him down!'_

_'Certainly,' said James and he jerked his wand upwards; Snape fell into a crumpled heap on the ground._

_After disentangling himself from his robes, he quickly got to his feet, wand up, but Sirius said, 'Locomotor mortis!' and Snape keeled over again at once, rigid as a board._

_'LEAVE HIM ALONE!' Lily shouted furiously; she had her own wand out now and James and Sirius eyed it warily –with good reason, as they had both felt the brunt of her fury coming from her wand's end many, many times in the past._

_'Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you,' said James earnestly, though he looked rather reluctant to do so; his fear of retaliation was great and he did not look forward to the pain it would undoubtedly entail._

_'Take the curse off him, then!'_

_James sighed deeply, then turned to Snape and muttered the counter-curse._

_'There you go,' he said, as Snape struggled to his feet. 'You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus—'_

_'I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!'_

_Lily blinked. She opened her mouth, paused, closed it, and then opened it with narrowed eyes once more, 'Fine,' she said coolly, nudging aside her fury. 'I won't bother in the future. And I'd wash my pants if I were you, Snivellus.'_

_'Apologize to Evans!' James roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him._

_'I don't want you to make him apologize,' Lily shouted, rounding on James. 'You're as bad as he is!'_

_'What?' yelped James, suddenly looking affronted and upset. 'I'd NEVER call you a - you-know-what!'_

_'Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can - I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK.' She turned on her heel and hurried away, furious with everyone there, but most importantly, herself._

_'Evans!' James shouted after her. 'Hey, EVANS!'_

But she hadn’t looked back. She hadn't spoken to either Potter nor Snape since then, refusing to come out of the Common Room even when Snape was waiting outside to speak with her. Even five days later, when they were all on the Hogwarts Express heading home, she kept her pain and anger to herself, in a whirlwind swirling inside her.

However, no matter how much she tried not to, not speaking does not mean that she didn't think about them; she spent the lengthy train ride to London staring out the window up at the sky, with her thoughts still swirling in the memories from that day. She ignored her friends and only murmured some vague response when they tried to bring her into their conversation about their extensive traveling plans for the summer – it wasn’t as if she had anything worthwhile to contribute anyways.

Now, in a different kind of car, with the same sky and thoughts on the same boys, she did the same thing when her parents tried to ask her how her fifth year at Hogwarts went. Lily Evans was not normal, in either world that she was apart of, because she was a witch who came from a family of muggles. Growing up, she had known nothing of the amazing world that was just under her nose, until she met Severus Snape; it was through him that she was introduced to the world of magic that she would someday be apart of – much to her older sister’s disgust and secret jealousy.

But, looking up at the sky, Lily could forget about all that –she certainly tried, even as tears streamed quietly down her face like they'd been doing all day. As the car pulled into the driveway, Lily looked up and saw a curtain shift. She hoped it was the wind, rather than Petunia. _Oh well,_ thought Lilly, _maybe this summer will be better than the school year._ She tried not to let the roll of thunder feel too much like an omen, because even if she didn't put any stock in Divination, that didn't mean she couldn't take a hint.

OoOoO

The beginning of Lily's summer passed quite unexpectedly, because to the Evans household, normal meant days filled with condescending remarks, furious and embarrassing admonishments, and tearful conversations with so much built up regret, rage and loss between two sisters that it became almost unbearable. This certainly dubbed as normal for the two Evans sisters, as relations between Lily and Petunia only continued to deteriorate. After the first two weeks of July passed, Lily took to passing time at the neighbourhood park, like she used to when she was a child. Only this time, she was there all by herself.

On days that she couldn't bear the loneliness at the park, she'd stay at home and read a book to ignore the loneliness there. Lily was alone throughout most of the days due to the long hours her parents kept – her mother was a nurse, her father a history Professor – and Petunia leaving first thing in the morning; she’d come down the stairs into the kitchen fully dressed, grabbing a piece of fruit on her way by, and, without any words to her family, leave to spend the day with Vernon.

Vernon Dursley, or Vermin as Lily called him when Petunia wasn't nearby, was Petunia's boyfriend of five months, two weeks, and three days; Petunia had taken to bragging about her exploits in the letters their mother forced each sister to write, and she ridiculed and taunted her sister whenever she had something that Lily didn't. In this case, that just so happened to be a boyfriend. Vernon was a beefy blond 18 year old, with very little neck and a nose that was constantly turned upwards in distaste. One could always count on Vermin to have something negative to say when Petunia invited him for supper. On those occasions, when the young couple were not in the room, Lily and her parents would discuss rather hopefully the possibility of a breakup rather than a proposal. It seemed that one night, Petunia heard Lily say so, as Vernon was then invited over for dinner every night for the following week.

Briefly, Lily considered inviting Severus to the park, as she used to, if only for a break from the constant loneliness that followed her everywhere. But she reminded herself that things had changed between them, and that some things could never be forgiven. She told him as much, when one day, he surprised her at the park and had begged for her forgiveness. She left him standing there, staring after her, and went home. She preferred even the empty house to her looking at Snape, even as both left her feeling drained and weary.


	2. Chapter 2

_Everything shatters when it rains, everything tumbles when the earth shakes, and everything's burned when a heart breaks. Hope is one emotion that will tear you apart. It will lead you on, and break away, leaving you defeated and stranded when you were perfectly fine before. Before you were given hope, you were closer to accepting the dismal truth. Hope is worse than feeling rage and terror, for it causes pain everywhere when it does not live up to expectation, and it is undefeated._

_But if hope comes through with its promises, it is the most wonderful thing in the world._

OoOoO

James Potter spent the train ride from Hogsmeade like all the others; in his seat by the window and surrounded by his friends in their typical compartment, the very last car on the train. This specific compartment has always been theirs, ever since they claimed it at the end of their first year, and his seat had yet to change. Four years after claiming their compartment, they were on their way home from their fifth year at Hogwarts and were the most notorious pranksters the school had ever seen.

While Remus, Sirius, and Peter were planning more prank ideas, James stared out of the window without contributing; reminiscing over past pranks, reliving their annual end of the year prank, and starting to plan their return of the year prank for September held no interest for James. Instead, he alternated between staring at the ceiling, outside the window, and at his friends. While James laughed when he knew he should, and prompted the story telling as needed, his mind was elsewhere the whole time. His mind was on _her_ , as it had been since the day of their Defense O.W.L. exam.

He couldn't believe that Lily had taken _Snivellus's_ side in this. After everything that little creep did, Evans would have to be blind not to notice the obsessive adoration with which she was treated. James had no idea how Lily could stand Snape's massive crush on her and ridicule him for his. _I mean,_ he thought, _it's not as if I go around calling her a- a -_

'Like you're any better, Prongs?' Remus asked. Apparently, at some point, James started muttering his rant rather than thinking it, and loud enough to the point that Remus, who sat right across from him as usual, could hear every word. 'You bully her best friend. Or at least someone who _used_ to be her best friend.' Remus added, with a hint of sympathy. The other three winced at this, recalling the painful moment and pitying Lily, even knowing that she'd hate having anyone's pity –especially theirs –directed towards her.

'Oi, Prongs, you just need to find yourself another girl to fret over this summer.' said Peter. 'Let Evans realize what she's missing out on, right?' Peter joked. James merely rolled his eyes; after being obsessed with the same girl for four years, even though he knew that she despised him, he'd tried nearly everything to get over her.

It was because of this that James didn't join in with the laughter, instead giving a small smirk and going back to staring out the window. Remus didn't laugh either, but rather regarded James contemplatively. James waited until they had all resumed their conversation –Remus included –before going back to his train of thought, and he spent the rest of the ride with his mind swirling in thought.

After getting off of the train at King's Cross, James could've sworn he saw a redhead, his favourite redhead, wiping her cheek with her head bowed, hurrying across the platform to her parents. With his heart residing somewhere in his kidneys after seeing the teary expression of Lily, he studied the Evans family and was not surprised that Lily's sister was nowhere to be found, even after not seeing her sister since Christmas; Petunia Evans made her younger sister's home life hell, and as such, James often found himself clenching his fists and biting his tongue whenever he saw her. While Lily never complained about her, at the very least not to him, he'd been friends with Marlene McKinnon, Lily's best friend in Gryffindor, since they were little; Marlene had mentioned certain things throughout the years, and he knew that there would soon be more tears falling from Lily's eyes because of her sister, and the helplessness he felt because of it did not reason well with him.

OoOoO

James walked into the bright kitchen the following morning with his clothing rumpled and his hair in complete disarray. Yawning, he scratched his head while sitting down across from his parents, already reaching for the teapot.

As they finished exchanging the regular morning pleasantries, Mr. Potter jokingly said, 'So James, how many hours do we have you all to ourselves before we can expect to see your friends, each laden with trunks, on our doorstep?' His eyes, crinkled around the corners with age and shining with laughter, widened in astonishment as the doorbell rang.

'Apparently none,' said James confusedly, as he rose from his seat and went to answer the door. 'Padfoot! Are you okay? What are you doing out of bed before noon?' As James joked and let his friend into the entranceway, he noticed a bruising around his neck, along with a black eye and a bloody nose. Lowering his voice, James led Sirius up to his bedroom murmuring 'Sirius, what happened? Who did this?'

When James' bedroom door was firmly shut, Sirius went straight into his friend's bathroom, and opened up the vanity cabinet that hung above the sink. He began dressing his wounds and taking many different healing potions while James shifted uncomfortably in the center of the room.

James had time to note that he was walking with a slight limp as he moved around before Sirius quietly called out from the bathroom, and said 'You know things aren't good between my family and I.' He came out of the bathroom then, and looking at the ground, avoiding his friend's eye, he asked almost hopelessly, 'Do you think I could crash here for a little while until things calm down?'

Knowing that Sirius would not reveal more information until he was ready, James simply tossed him a pair of fresh clothes and conjured Sirius' old bed from the last time he stayed. James offered what was supposed to be a comforting smile but was more of a grimace and said 'You'll always have a bed here, Padfoot. You should know that by now. Don't ever think otherwise. Just let me go tell my parents.' And with that, James left Sirius, who was still looking at the ground by his feet, and pretended he not to see his friend wipe away stray tears as he went back downstairs.

OoOoO

As the summer progressed and Sirius became as much a part of the Potter household as James, the two were nearly inseparable. Sirius and Mr. Potter had a long conversation in Fleamont’s study later that first day, after which Sirius emerged with red puffy eyes, a small smile on his face, and without the haunted look in his eyes – James was so determined not to allow it to return that for the first two weeks of summer vacation, the boys would floo to London together and spend their days wandering around Diagon Alley, having fun and joking around.

They missed playing quidditch the most about school, even above pranking, flirting with girls (Sirius) and seeing Lily (James). They often spent hours a day inside their favourite store, Quality Quidditch Supplies. They would often be found wandering around the aisles, tossing a quaffle between themselves, and having to dodge around the other customers to avoid hitting them; the last time they had hit a client, they’d been banned from the shop for nearly a week, and so the boys deemed that hitting people with the quaffle was not a worthy cause.

Near the end of their second week of holidays, Sirius decided to quietly apply to a job offer from the Leaky Cauldron, the pub that hid the entrance to the alley from the muggle streets of London. It had only taken Sirius three days at the Potters to admit that he never wanted to go back to his family home at Grimmauld Place. James, of course, had known all along that Sirius would be staying for good, and he was just as ecstatic as he had been since he had asked his parents for their permission, even if Sirius had yet to fully admit to James the reasoning behind him leaving so suddenly.

And so, just as the family was sitting down to breakfast, he announced that he would be spending the day at his new job, before disappearing from the table and leaving the Potters to their confusion.

'James…what have you done with Sirius?' hesitantly asked Mrs. Potter.

James, after a bout of repeatedly opening and closing his mouth, said 'I've no idea, Mum.'

Once James had gotten over the abrupt shock of the announcement, he followed Sirius upstairs with as many questions as he could fit in his head.

'Hey Padfoot!' he called, taking the stairs two at a time. 'What's up with the job, huh?' he asked, as he walked into their now-shared room and sat on one of the beds, unable to tell whose it was, given as both were as messy as they possibly could be. With quills, spare parchment, candy wrappers, pillows and maroon and navy patterned duvets on both, Mrs. Potter always exclaimed that it's a wonder that they could distinguish the beds from the rest of the room. The walls were a pale blue, and covered in photographs of the Marauders, the Potters, and Lily Evans. There was an exceptional amount featuring James and Sirius, as well as a few of Lily, who was usually with her roommates; she’d always been constantly worried what the wizard photograph would show James doing for the rest of their lives. She did however consent to taking one with Remus, who she happened to consider a friend, despite his Marauder status, and a copy of it was hung up on James' wall as well.

On the opposite wall to the beds, framed by red drapes, was a huge bay window that looked out onto the Potters' private Quidditch Pitch. On the right, there was a large fireplace that took up most of the wall, leaving room for two huge closets, one on either side and both full with clothes belonging to each boy. The fireplace was stone-tiled and framed by two worn brown leather loveseats, facing each other with a coffee table between them. The door to the bathroom was on the opposite side of the room, along with a large desk and all of James' many wooden bookshelves, all of which were packed to the brim. He had maroon rugs covering most of the wood flooring, but that did not always keep the chill off of the feet during the colder months. The two beds were set up along the same wall as door, and each bed sported their Hogwarts trunks at the foot, currently stuffed with various odds and ends, such as sweets wrappers, school bags, and various letters written over the course of the school year.

Walking in, James could hear Sirius inside his own closet, rummaging around and leaving a disaster in his wake. He came out looking rather panicked, pulling a t-shirt over his head.

James, chuckling this time, repeated his question after pointing to a sock that was stuck in his pant leg. 'What's up with the job?'

After pulling out the sock and fiddling with it in his hands, Sirius mumbled some sort of response.

'Come again?' inquired James.

'I can't always be dependent on you and your family. I need to find some way to manage buying all of my school supplies for next summer,' the boys had already done all of their shopping for their next year, as James liked to go over his Transfiguration textbook in August. 'Not to mention everything I'll need for after Hogwarts. We graduate in two years! And I'm so bloody broke I wouldn't know how to survive the first month on my own. I need the money, and I've already been a burden on one family enough in my lifetime. I don't want to be a burden on someone ever again.' He finished quietly.

James walked over to him and pulled him into a one-armed hug. 'That's not possible, Padfoot. You know that.' He whispered, pretending not to feel the death grip that was holding onto him. ‘C’mon, let’s get you to work so that I can have a good laugh at you, yeah?’ James asked, leading Sirius over to the fireplace. He stepped in and in a flash of green light, he disappeared, knowing that he would soon be followed by Sirius, now and forever.

OoOoO

While Sirius worked, James took to wandering Diagon Alley by himself. He would go back to the pub on Sirius' breaks, and sometimes he'd stay to chat for a time afterwards, grabbing a butterbeer as he did so. But most often, he was alone.

That is, until he ran into Lily Evans, who happened to be escaping Snape at the park and the silence at home, and so was looking for a little company. She just hadn’t been looking for _James Potter's_ company. ' _Figures.'_ she muttered to herself just as he started calling her name.

'What are you doing here, Evans?' James asked, grinning broadly. _Maybe she found out I've been here all week and was hoping to run into me!_ He thought to himself.

_Great. Just because Remus told me he's been here all week, now he's probably thinking I wanted to run into him!_ Lily groaned to herself. 'Wipe that smirk off your face, Potter. I'm meeting up with Alice, Dorcas and Marlene at Fortescue’s. Sorry, no guys allowed.'

'Aha! So you noticed I'm a guy! Well, that's a step in the right direction anyways –much better than a toerag. And it's not as if you had a choice in the matter or not, but I was already headed to the ice cream shop before I ran into you. Seeing as I'm famished, it's highly unlikely that I'll be going anywhere else.' James spoke with a smile that irritated Lily constantly; it was the one that he would wear when in public, most often after playing a prank against another student, or having come up with a witty, cutting remark. It was a smile that was only plastered on for appearances’ sake, instead of being for something that he found true enjoyment in.

Lily had lost count how many freckles he had, but she knew that when he smiled the real smile, they all appeared, more brilliantly visible than what was ordinary. It unnerved her continuously that she noticed such things about him, when her only opinion on him was supposed to be that he was an irritating, shallow prick and nothing else.

As if he was sensing her confusing thoughts, James beamed at her as he opened the door to the ice cream parlour. Seeing the three other girls already seated at a table, James took Lily's order and then went to the counter to place it while she sat down. Two minutes later, James set down her chocolate milkshake and his own vanilla one and pulled up a chair.

Lily had known as soon as she had walked in that she would not be getting out of the inquiries of her friends that would be following the next week, as to why she had come in with James and why he had paid for her. It took her only a moment to realize this, but as soon as she did, she couldn't quite quell the blush that sprung up over her cheeks.


	3. Chapter 3

_Underneath oceans, lakes and rivers, the water churns, distorting and reshaping the image to fit its own needs. The darkness is no better, preferring to hide within itself in a child's bedroom wardrobe, or in the space between the basement light switch and the corridor in the hall. Underwater, every colour becomes a different shade than what it is meant to be, and when you shine the light on something, it may no longer be recognizable from what it led you to see in the dark. It hides in the darkness and the silence, where no one can see, where no one can hate. Everyone tells you to hide in plain sight, but when you do that, you feel exposed. So you prefer to hide in the water and the dark. You would prefer to not see the burdens that your mind has you convinced that you inflict on everyone else for being who you are, and you are unable to distinguish the truth from the lies._

OoOoO

Remus had always been fond of silence, finding it to be one of the few things that can calm a racing heart, a churning stomach, and a reeling head. Because of his fondness for quiet, he sometimes had absolutely no idea why he spent his time around the other Marauders; on most nights, it wouldn't be until little after two in the morning that the Marauders would make their way up to bed from the common room, even if it was a school night.

However, once James and Lily were halfway into their milkshakes, Remus walked into the shop and joined the group of girls and James at their table, with an order of his own. He said that since all of his friends would be there, he wouldn't want to miss out on the fun and that an afternoon spent out of his own quiet house seemed much more pleasant that the alternative; Lily could relate.

James, however, knew him too well for him to get away with that excuse. It was because of this, he knew, that Remus refused to meet his eye.

James thought that it was more to calm the two of them down, should any arguments arise, rather than to escape the silence waiting for him at home. Having a tendency to participate in lengthy debates whenever they were near in proximity with each other, arguments between James and Lily would often get quite loud, and could go on for days. They would stop being funny after the second day to all the outsiders, but neither Lily nor James had a clue as to the reason their friends would still find their spats adorable.

The likelihood of an argument –more commonly known as feud –between them is always dependent upon certain instances. For example, if another guy were to so much as admire Lily's handwriting, James would develop a foul mood. In such a state of mind, he would make some horrible decisions, most often of which turned out to make some sort of remark to Lily. She would then retaliate with her own remarks, for a girl who'd be at least a year older would've just brushed past, managing to hike her skirts up to her thighs as she did so, or brush her hair off her shoulder so that it would reveal a full figure. In trying to catch James' eye without anyone else noticing, this most often included James himself, not that Lily noticed. Lily often used these situations to prove to herself that James only wanted what he couldn't have, since she was unable to come up with another reason for deserving so much attention from him.

Their record so far, with the same topic, was achieved in their fourth year after a particular thought-provoking History of Magic class during which Lily had sat beside Caradoc Dearborn, a rather attractive looking Hufflepuff in their year, and so James had sat himself beside a Hufflepuff, Selena Abbott -the most flirtatious female in their year. It had taken twelve days and fourteen hours before James had set aside his ego and went to Lily to apologize. Even then, however, it wasn't because he thought she was in the right, which is what she still believed, but rather as James realized that he's rubbish in potions and desperately needed help with his homework; Remus was in the Hospital Wing and was therefore unavailable, though he wouldn't have helped him anyways.

Now in the shop, Lily seemed to notice the questioning glances that James was sending out, with Remus carefully avoiding his eye. She then caught on to what James had assumed the real reason that Remus was here, and why today was a special occasion where fighting was not the best idea.

The way things had ended at the end of last year's term came rushing up to Lily, leaving her slightly dizzy. The memory of that day would be there waiting for her every time she closed her eyes. It pained her, but not as much as Snape did when she realized that she was still hoping that he'd go back to being the boy that she had called a friend, and even more so when she realized he never would. It had taken that day for her to realize that he was a lost cause, and that all traces of her best friend since she was nine were gone. She did not, however, blame James, shockingly as it was –she'd usually go about blaming him for everything, whether it was his fault or not.

As soon as the two realized their friend's motives for coming, there was a brief moment of awkwardness, thankfully broken by James.

'What do you lot say to bringing this to the leaky cauldron? We can grab some butterbeers and say hullo to Sirius.' interjected James. Lily breathed a sigh of relief that only James seemed to understand as the group all nodded and all five of them made their way up the street to the pub. On the way there, James and Lily fell a little ways behind, giving James the perfect opportunity to do what he has felt he had to do, even before he saw the same redheaded girl wipe away tears on the platform.

'Lily…' started James awkwardly, just barely loud enough for her to hear. 'I really need to apologize to you, and I would've done it sooner, I swear, it's just that Remus –well, he might've threatened to use chains to restrain me in the compartment on the train, as soon as I mentioned going to find you. But I really need to tell you how awful I feel and that I'm terribly sorry that you lost your best mate because I was _bored_.' James said, looking sullen and so remorseful that Lily decided, for once, to take pity on him.

'Not sure that what happened is entirely your fault, to be honest,' She started, ignoring his shocked expression as her eyes shifted about uneasily. 'But either way, you weren't the one I was really upset with. I've been called a mudblood before, and last year, I was hearing that term thrown at me almost daily- ironically though, none of the Marauders were ever around when they did so.' With a half-hearted chuckle, Lily adverted her eyes, narrowly missing James clenching his fists and tense posture, and continued. 'Sev's been different ever since we started Hogwarts, ever since he started hanging around with his house mates.' Ignoring the boy beside her, she blundered on. 'I mean, I still saw him as the little boy I grew up with, but I didn't want to see how much he's changed. We'd met before Hogwarts and he was the one who told me I was a witch. He'd been my best friend ever since. He was there when things started going bad with Petunia; we were only nine then.' She added with a slight hitch in her small voice. She took a moment to compose herself, and she let out a great sigh, turning to meet his eye once again. 'Sorry, didn’t mean to dump all that on you.'

'Loosing your best friend, Evans, it's not something everyone can handle. I don't know what I'd do without the other Marauders, I doubt I'd survive the night. Change is always hard, but you have people you can rely on. You've got Marlene, and Dorcas, and Alice, and Remus.' _And me_. He added silently, assuming that that particular comment would be most unhelpful while he was trying to apologize. 'And Hogwarts is pretty huge you know. I'm sure you could avoid him until you're ready, but that doesn't really seem like your style.' With a chuckle at the redhead, he opened the door to the pub and walked over to the bar with her in tow. He continued while they were waiting for everyone's orders. 'Besides, your problems read out like one of those hand lotion muggle programs that are always on that picture box-thing, with the girl going to the first guy that will listen, and then he'll give her some amazing advice; only, without the dancing and signing thrown in.' He said, with one of those sincere smiles that always gave Lily uncomfortable butterflies in her stomach; she wished she could just call an exterminator for them and be done with it.

Hiding the blush creeping up on her, she let her hair cover her face as she started teasing him. 'Hand cream muggle shows? Do you mean a soap opera?' she said with a chuckle. Then, realizing what he meant, cried in indignation 'Hey! My life is not some melodrama soap, where the heroine is some weak pansy. When have you ever watched a soap, Potter? Plus, I don't sing!'

'Oh, Evans, I'm sure you have a lovely signing voice; all the proof in there in your shrieks! And my mum got one of those moving picture screens for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary last year. She loves those shows. Dad got it all specially set up for her so that the magic didn't interfere with any of the elektrecal thingys.'

After a short, awkward pause, Lily threw Potter a bone. 'If you stop hexing people who don't deserve it, _including_ Slytherins, I might just agree to stop calling you worse than the Giant Squid- but only because you aren't as slimy.'

They were laughing so hard that James could only sputter a 'Thanks Evans.' Still laughing, Lily went to their table, her narrow hips swaying, her arms loaded with butterbeers and a bright smile on her face. It was her first real smile of the summer.

OoOoO

After spending the afternoon with Alice, Dorcas, Marlene, Remus, James, and Sirius, who came over to their table during his breaks, Lily went home feeling very perplexed. She didn't have long to ponder these thoughts, mind you, for she had just taken off her coat when there was a knock on the door. Lily didn't even get the chance to open it, before it was thrown open, Marlene walked in, a wide, knowing smirk covering her face. _Damn_ , thought Lily, _I was hoping for some more time before this started._

'So.' Marlene said, her smirk now covering most of her face, one which Lily found most irritating at the moment.

'Miss me already, Marls?' Lily quipped, closing the door after her friend had walked in and practically jumped onto the sofa in the next room, Lily walked over to her and sat down across from her on the couch. The redhead tucked her feet up underneath her so that she could face the- still grinning- brunette. _Let's just get this over with._ She thought, voicing the sigh that followed her thoughts. Lily had just faced Marlene with an expectant face, when the door burst open, yet again, and in came Dorcas Meadowes. The blonde looked at Marlene with a proud smile as she went to sit on the floor, crossing her legs as she did so, staring expectantly at Lily, reminding her very strongly of a young child waiting for a story. Lily did not notice the third teenage girl, for she came in after Dorcas, and was the only visitor who closed the door and took the time to take off their shoes before joining the rest in the living room. Lily was looking quite overwhelmed as Alice Griffiths sat on the chaise, directly facing the couch, with the coffee table, and now apparently Dorcas, in between.

There was a silence, as everyone sat, staring at Lily, leaving the teen feeling very put-out as she kept on glancing between her friends' expectant faces and the door, hoping for someone who would actually save her rather than team up with her friends.

'Lily, _spill_.' demanded Dorcas, her bright brown eyes twinkling in amusement, reminding her very much of their headmaster, Professor Dumbledore.

'What?' asked Lily shyly, looking at anywhere but her friends faces. She glanced anywhere she could in order to avoid their gazes, before she resolutely turned to face her friends once again. Steeling her resolve, she admitted 'Fine, fine. I know what you're all going on about and I get it…'

'Lily, after _last_ year we thought-' interrupted Marlene.

'That you would _never_ speak to him again-' intruded Dorcas.

'Only to find you, walking in, _with him_ -' contributed Alice.

'And then he went and _paid_ for you-' interrupted once again Marlene, gesturing frantically to ensure her point was made.

'I know! I know! I'm aware of the situation, alright? And it's not like you guys are helping! Nor are you letting me explain!' Lily barged in, steeling everyone with a withering glare. Even Marlene looked a little worried. Taking a deep breath, Lily continued, only finally explaining her side. 'I never meant to run into him, but I can't deny I knew that he was most likely going to be there. When we made plans to meet at the ice cream shop, I knew that Remus had mentioned that James had taken to the streets of Diagon Alley, what with Sirius working there over the summer and all, but I didn't want to let that ruin it for everyone else. So, it wasn't much of a surprise that we ran into each other, and as for him paying for me, that was only because I forgot to grab my wallet. I had just figured that I would bum some ice cream off of you guys, but he didn’t even pause in asking me what I wanted.' She said.

They were all staring at the redhead, and Dorcas was making slight hand gestures to carry on. Marlene finally voiced what all of them were thinking: 'But what about what happened at the end of term, Lil? You swore that you would never talk to him again after what he did to Snape.'

Here Lily looked downwards before she continued, taking a slight pause before she started with the whole explanation yet again. 'I don't think I really blamed James for what happened between Snape and I. I was just mad that because of what he did, I had to finally accept the person that Severus was becoming. He was no longer the person that I grew up with, I just didn't want to see it. I was mad that I didn't realize it sooner, and I took it out on James. Not that James wasn't a bullying arse who deserved everything I sent him, but that day got out of hand. I’ve talked to Remus about it over these past few weeks, and James sounded really upset. Especially when Rem told me what he had been like on the train ride –apparently, he had felt just as rotten as I had. So, when he started apologizing to me today, I might've decided to cut him a little slack. I made him promise to stop hexing for no reason, and… I left it at that…' She finished lamely.

Taken aback by the long explanation, her friends could do nothing but stare at her for a few more moments. Suddenly, all hell broke loose.

'Oi! Griffiths! You owe me a galleon!' yelled Dorcas.

'Do not, Meadowes! She never said she was in love with him! The bet lasts until next summer break, and you're just afraid that you're going to loose!' Alice shot back.

Meanwhile, Marlene had tackled Lily, jumping right onto her lap, with cries of horror at how Lily could've possibly been blaming herself for this, all the while congratulating her on turning to a more peaceful approach with James. 'Now we can actually hang around with the Marauders while you're around! I'm so glad we don't have to hide that from you anymore and maybe now you'll actually join us! You should _see_ what they're like at three o'clock in the morning, they just start harping on each other, and they're too wasted to pull off successful pranks, but _bloody hell_ , do they try! And-'

' _Hold up_!' shouted Lily, finally letting everything sink in around her. 'Alice. Dorcas. You guys were betting on _what_ exactly?' demanded a furious Lily, her face reddening with evidence of her famous temper.

The two girls in question, who were trying to make themselves invisible at the moment by shrinking into each other, admitted 'We were betting that you would admit to being in love with James before next summer holidays…' muttered Dorcas, avoiding the redhead's eyes.

As an added thought under her breath, she continued 'And I am _so_ going to win.' However, she was reduced to sputtering the last word, because Lily had just launched a throw pillow at her friend's face.

'I suggest you prepare to loose that bet, Meadowes.' Lily told her firmly. Turning to Marlene, she continued her little rant. 'What was that bit about you all sneaking off to spend time with the marauders?'

'Oh, err, nothing really, I mean, it's not as if we do it every night, Lil!' said Marlene quickly, who was rather against the idea of getting a pillow to the face. She had had plenty of experience in the past with that, mostly due to her snide comments, and even when Lily was cracking up on the inside, her throws hurt. Remembering the painful memories, she blamed the Evans' parents for signing their daughter up for baseball every summer until their third year; the girl had quite the arm. It was a shame she didn't own a broom, she could've been the best beater Gryffindor had seen in years, aside from Black. Marlene resolved to have a talk with James about convincing Lily to try out for the quidditch team before resuming her train of thought, while sinking into the couch to better avoid the advancing redhead.

Joining in, Alice said 'Yeah, it’s mostly only on the weekends. Oh _shit_!' She swore, as Lily turned herself towards the blonde. Her only saviour was Remus, who decided at that moment to knock on the front door. For the third time that day, the door opened without consent, and Remus walked into the living room after placing his shoes by the door, his being one of the only pairs. It was because of this that he seemed so surprised to see all of the previous fifth year female Gryffindors, but it also might have something to do with the fact that aside from Lily, who still clutched the pillow and had a murderous gleam in her eye, everyone seemed petrified.

Until Remus asked 'uhhh, whaa- what's going on?', then they all seemed freed from their state of horror and thanked Remus profusely for saving them from Lily's wrath. They did, however, refrain from indicating what that wrath was about. Shortly after mouthing 'Later' to Remus, Dorcas got hit in the face with the pillow for the second time that day. _Must be a record, even I haven't gotten two hits in one day!_ Marlene thought with pity _._


	4. Chapter 4

James was nauseatingly happy that evening. It was to the point that even his parents picked up on his good humour when they were rushing out of the fireplace, having just gotten home from the Ministry.

With being Head Auror, Fleamont Potter kept late work hours, which were only becoming later and later as a certain Dark Wizard gained followers. His wife would often be occupied until later in the evenings as well, for she only got busier as an acting member on so many different committees. 

It took but a moment for Euphemia and Fleamont Potter to be encircled by their son after coming home that night, and even less time for them to realize that their son was behaving bizarrely. Mrs. Potter looked questioningly between her son - who was currently jumping around his father in circles,speaking too quickly for anyone to understand – and Sirius looked amused and slightly apprehensive.

'Sirius… what's wrong with James?' Mrs. Potter muttered under her breath.

'I've no idea, Mrs. Potter. Give me a minute.' He said with a determined gleam in his eye as he dragged the still jumping James up to their room and tossed him onto a bed.

On their way upstairs, neither of them heard the words shared between Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

'It's about a girl, isn't it?' Euphemia asked her husband.

'Most definitely.' Answered he, 'I, for one, look forward to meeting her.' He added with a smile as they headed to the expansive kitchen to start on the supper that awaited them.

While the Potters did have a house elf in residence, Twitch mostly focused on cleaning as opposed to cooking; the Potters would ask him to help out for extravagant meals when they hosted, or for breakfasts when no one could even see straight because of how early it was. Both the Potter men were horrible with cleaning spells, and the Manor was much too big for one witch to tackle all by herself even with magic. Euphemia and Fleamont taught James to cook –they had tried to do as much with Sirius, but he couldn't tell you the difference between a bread knife and a paring knife, and so was unquestionably hopeless in the kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Potter just hoped that James would be able to get through to him before he moved out; James had grown up to be the best cook out of them all.

'Let us hope that this is the one he's been pinning over since the end of first year. And maybe he'll finally shut up about that  _ Snivellus _ bloke as well.' Added Mrs. Potter, before shuddering at how often these past summers she's heard him talk about this girl, and the boy that always ends up in detention with the Marauders for duelling in the halls.

OoOoO

'Out with it.' Sirius told his best friend.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' said James, bouncing his legs.

Sirius scrutinized James, looking at his big, goofy smile, the light flush covering his face, and his eyes which were brilliantly lit.

Ever since the end of the year, James would become distracted a few times per day, with a faraway look in his eyes and a frown creasing his forehead. Today, however, and ever since they had met up with their friends in Diagon Alley earlier that week, James has not stopped smiling, although he did space out more often than before. Sirius had a feeling he knew the reason for the sudden attitude shift:  _ Evans _ .

'James. What in the bloody hell is up with you?' demanded Sirius with a sombre impression upon his face as he sat down on the edge of his own bed, facing his friend.

'She… She… She forgave me. I'd actually thought I'd ruined my shot with her, but  _ Lily Evans forgave me _ !'

'Of course this is about Evans. She is the only bird that will  _ ever _ have this effect on you.' muttered Sirius, just loud enough for him to be heard. Resolving himself to bring his friend back to himself, Sirius thought,  _ This is for you, Mrs. Potter. _

'Prongs, mate' he said gently 'just because she forgave you for ruining her friendship with her best friend, which for the life of me I'll never know why, doesn't mean that she wants to go out with you.'

'Of course it doesn't, Padfoot! But at least this way, I can talk to her, get to know her. And she'll get to know me! She won't have Snivellus whispering in her ear and so I'm free to make my own impression. Even if it's only as friends, I’ll take being as close to her as she’ll allow it. If only I can find a way, I suppose I shouldn't be asking her out every time I see her, but that might prove to be difficult, –'

_ This should be interesting _ … thought Sirius, as he tuned his friend out to start flipping through the assigned homework for their summer holidays. Even doing homework was better than hearing James going on about Lily.

It was only a few days later, nearing the middle of the second week in July, when Remus and Peter showed up at the Potter's, both laden with their trunks and belongings for the rest of the summer. At the beginning of the week, James and Sirius had run downstairs and thrown themselves at the feet of James' parents, begging for their friends to be allowed to stay for the rest of the summer.

'We're  _ bored _ , Dad! Pleeasee!?' begged James.

'Yes, come on, Mum! Pleasee?' persisted Sirius.

The reason that the Potter’s said yes might've been because of this last comment. With barely contained smiles, the Potters agreed to their two sons' pleading. 

The morning when Remus and Peter were due to arrive, it had taken a substantially less amount of shouting on Mrs. Potter's part to get both her boys out of bed before ten that morning.

'Maybe we should've invited them over at the beginning of summer, would’ve made getting James and Sirius out of bed a hell of a lot easier.' She muttered to her husband as she sat down at the kitchen table.

Mr. Potter, while turning the page on the Daily Prophet responded just as the boys could be heard thumping down the stairs. 'Good luck getting all four of them up before noon from now on.' He said with a chuckle.

Peter and Remus rung the doorbell at eleven, with their parents thanking the Potters profusely for their generosity before walking back down the drive to disapparate.

Once they had brought Remus' broom to the shed outside, they all shouldered the two boys' luggage and brought it upstairs.

While Sirius conjured up the final missing two beds in their bedroom and James used an impressive and extremely complicated extension charm on the two closets, Remus and Peter both became quite comfy on the couches, talking to one another and catching up on their summers so far. They were joined by the other two, who both unceremoniously plopped themselves beside them. What had started out as a peaceful conversation turned amusing and extremely enjoyable as James left and came back two minutes later, arms loaded with sweets of all kinds and butterbeers after raiding his kitchen. They started planning pranks, ranging in various degrees of amusement, skill capabilities, and effectiveness. Some were so far-fetched that the one who suggested them would get wrappers thrown at them, with loud and care-free laughter ringing throughout the entire afternoon.

The Marauders were going all out for their reunion, with James bringing in a firewhiskey bottle that had been swiped before entering his parents' extensively charmed liquor cabinet in the late afternoon. Once something went in there, James would never be able to reach it. Not that that kept him from trying, of course.

His parents had told him that once he was old and mature enough to be able to identify the charm that was set on the cabinet and was able perform the counter-jinx, he would be allowed into the cabinet without  _ all that much _ fuss. He had yet to figure it out. It had become a challenge of sorts, one that a Gryffindor would never be able to pass up; for the first week of every vacation that he went home, he would try out all of the charms that he had learned in school. The Cabinet of Death had been its name ever since third year.

They continued to plan prank after prank, passing the bottle back and forth between them. They had just finalized their beginning of the year prank when Sirius had an idea.

Smiling mischiefly, Sirius said, ‘I had a brilliant idea. We should throw a party.' At the carefully blank expression on Remus' face, the worried one on James' and the confused one on Peter's, he continued. 'Not everyone will be invited. In fact, I was thinking only the other Gryffindors in our year…' and with this, he stared pointedly at James, and smirked when he saw his friend's growing smile and twinkling eyes at that comment.

Here, James interrupted, catching onto what his friend was hinting at and throwing in some of his own ideas. 'We could convince my parents to go out for the night, and give us permission to have a few friends over-and I'm sure I could find some more firewhiskey before it goes into the  _ Cabinet Of Death. _ We could arrange for everyone to crash here, so that it doesn't matter how much we all drink and –' he added, rather excitedly

'And you two are bloody brilliant.' Interjected Peter. 'James, you could whip up some food since you're such an amazing cook, and-'

'Exactly what I was thinking, Wormtail!' interjected Sirius.

Remus, the only one who had remained silent throughout the initial planning,finally spoke after the others quieted. 'I'm just worried that Lily will bite my head off when I invite her.'

'Why do you get to be the one to invite her?' whined James.

'Because if  _ you _ invite her, she will  _ definitely _ bite your head off.' Black told him with a barking laugh. 'Especially if you whine like that when you ask her.' He added.

'And we don't want her hearing it from one of her friends, because then she'll think that she's unwanted' added Peter.

'Maybe Remus  _ should _ invite her. At least he's too busy being gay with Sirius to bring another date, so Lily won't get the wrong idea.' James added, laughing. He completely ignored the shouts bouncing around the room of 'I'm not gay, you dunderhead!' and focused instead on hiding behind Peter, who was laughing so uncontrollably that he could be of no assistance to either one of them. 

Once all of the boys had settled down, they delegated the various tasks. After deciding it would be held at Potter Manor that Friday, it left them with three days to get the rest organized. Lupin, as the only boy that could successfully perform cleaning spells, would help Twitch with all the cleaning. James would be preparing the food for Friday. Sirius, being in the unique position of working at a pub, would be in charge of getting the firewhiskey –the Cabinet of Death was left alone, its door mocking James whenever he walked by –and Peter would make up the invitations. After all their fuss, the boys had agreed upon Remus handing Lily an invitation while he visited her later that week.

OoOoO

'Oi, Evans!' Remus called as he walked into Lily's home early Wednesday morning. He went upstairs to her closed bedroom and pounded on her door until a bedraggled Lily appeared from behind it before turning and lying down on her bed. As was their routine, Remus followed her in and opened her blinds to much complaining and grumbling on Lily’s part.

He sat down on her chair while she buried her head under the covers, and leaned back and appreciated the silence. Remus was reminded strongly at that moment of James, who acted very similarly in the mornings.  _ Bloody hell, they're perfect for each other. _

Looking around her room, he was taken aback once again, between the similarities of James' bedroom and the ginger's, who had fallen back asleep. He took note of the medium grey walls, the navy blue and grey comforter thrown over the queen sized bed, with the dark wooden headboard against the far-side wall in the middle of the room and the wooden bookshelves that were filled with her favourite books on the wall on the left. The makeup vanity that doubled as a desk was on the wall directly to the right, littered with pens, quills, paper and parchment, and was surrounded by the two potted plants that Lily had brought in from the living room. The chaise was on the left-hand size of the bed, beside it was a small table that supported her currently empty owl cage.  _ Must be off delivering a letter to Marlene _ . He supposed.

She had a wardrobe propped up beside her plants, and multiple framed photographs and paintings adorned her walls. None of her photographs moved, as it was a muggle residence, and so she had allowed a picture of her and James to be hung up among her other friends. Smiling, James was looking at Lily, who was captured in a time of story-telling, busy laughing and gesturing with her hands, both frozen with laughter lining every surface between the pair. Suddenly, grumbling could be heard from the bed, and  _ something _ started moving.

'Morning, sourpuss, sleep well?' Remus asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes and a broad smile on his face.

'Shut up, Lupin. I think your Marauder is coming out' grumbled Lily, before heading downstairs to put the kettle on for tea, much to the amusement of her friend.

Lily didn't mind cooking. She would often help out around the kitchen, doing the prep work or making up a salad, while her sister cursed her from the next room over for being a kiss ass. However, Lily loved cooking breakfast. In her opinion, it was the best meal of the day. It was also the only one where her parents never forced them all to eat it together during the summer. Lily hated the "sister bonding time brunches" and the forced family suppers, even though they were happening a lot less recently, what with Petunia not coming in from being with Vernon until much later. The only problem with getting Lily to cook breakfast was getting the sleepy redhead out of bed to do so. Once she was finished with her tea, she would turn on the stove and start cracking eggs. When it was just herself in the mornings, as it often was, she would make an omelette. And so, when Remus came over for the day, she went all out. Lily would make way too much food for two people, requiring her to send the leftovers home with Remus in a doggy bag.

Lily had a motherly streak that was not usually noticed. Whenever she saw her pale, scrawny and exhausted friend, she could not contain it and would smother him with food. By taking out muffins and bagels, making bacon and eggs, pieces of toast and more, she made sure that he didn't leave until he was positively stuffed. She made crepes for him and they were presented with a flourish and always topped with either fruit and whipped cream, or icing sugar and chocolate sauce for an extra kick when needed (she never mentioned that those always seemed necessary near the full moon, but Remus sometimes got the impression that she had noticed, which utterly chilled him to the bone). All of the food would be served with an assortment of teas, coffee and orange juice.

After every breakfast, Remus started begging. 'Please Lil, you have to! Your talents are wasted here! Besides, look at me! I'm fading away without your amazing breakfasts! Just move in for the summer, why don't you?'

'Remus, we've been over this how many times? Can't anyone else cook over there?' She asked, laughing as usual.

'Well, yes, most of the time. But the Potters aren't morning people –especially James and Sirius –and they all have come to some sort of understanding that you need to be both awake and coherent to be cooking –probably because Sirius nearly burned the Manor down once, but I'm not certain.' He said, with a small chuckle.

'You know, Rem, it would be pretty pointless for me to do so, because I’d murder Potter and Black in their sleep. Plus, I’m not coherent in the mornings either.' She said, pouring herself more caffeine before getting started on the mounds of dishes.

Laughing, Remus agreed, but added 'Lily, you would be able to murder them even when they're awake.'

After a day spent laughing, talking, reading, and eating, Remus handed Lily an envelope on his way to the door.

'What's this?' Lily asked, looking between the envelope in her hand and Remus.

'Read it and find out.' responded Remus. Almost as an afterthought, he added 'Please come, it'll be fun. ' He then walked down the driveway, up the road and turned the corner without a second glance.

Lily watched him until he was no longer visible, and closed the front door with a click. She went to the couch and beheld the envelope in her hands. After a moment’s hesitation, she opened the folded parchment, and let out a sigh of relief when she read its contents.

The words, quite prettily written, said  this :

_ Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs _

_ Cordially invite you to a celebration of summer, along with the previous fifth-year Gryffindors. _

_ Hosted at Potter Manor this Friday, the 17th of July, _

_ From 7pm until 9 am _

_ Food and drinks –alcohol included –will be served _

_ Guests are welcome to stay longer, _

_ Especially considering it is currently home to four of them _

Finally understanding what Marlene had been on about in her last letter, Lily laughed. 'This should be interesting' She said aloud, listening to it resonate in her empty house.

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

Whatever was said about Marlene McKinnon, she never backed down from a dare. No one really knew why, but most blamed her unrelenting Gryffindor pride. No matter, as whoever knew her could tell that she was, without a doubt, a Gryffindor. She was also rather stubborn, and used her exceeding-wit and sarcasm for amusement, but also as an indicator of a foul mood.

Only her closest friends knew her well enough to be able to tell when her anger is reaching a boiling point; they’d see her clenched hands, just waiting to be released- either by using her wand or throwing a punch; Marlene often found that she didn't have a preference. It took a lot to get a rise out of her, and not many who did repeated the mistake afterwards.

Marlene, to anyone who didn't know her, was seen as a fearless beauty. To the Marauders, she was seen as McKinnon, a girl –almost one of the guys –who you mess with at your own risk. To Lily Evans, she was not merely a pretty face, but a beautiful person and her best friend.

Marlene’s relationships usually only lasted a month or so before she kicked them to the curb. There was Caradoc Dearborn, a rather attractive Hufflepuff in their year, who had asked her out this past year; he had sat with Lily one History of Magic class the year before, trying to figure out a way to ask Marlene out, but became apprehensive of approaching them for months afterwards. This was possibly due to James Potter being jealous, with a confrontation ensuing –Caradoc learnt that day that he rather liked his hair the blonde/brown color that it was, and knew for a fact that he _didn't_ like his ears being on his arse.

Once he had gathered his wits and asked Marlene out the following year, he was very wary of the Marauders and their antics. It was because of his distrust, especially towards James and Sirius (who obviously helped James in his jealous pranking, as he always did), that was ultimately the last straw. McKinnon dumped his arse a week after he told her that she needed to stop associating with the two boys, claiming that he didn't understand the point of loyalty, and that her mates always came before herself.

Lily and Marlene became fast friends their first year at Hogwarts, and they often got together during the summer. It was because of this that Marlene was currently sitting on Lily's bed, trying to help the redhead choose an outfit for Potter's party, three days from then.

'Lily, c'mon! How hard can it be? Just pick one already!'

'But I have nothing to wear, Marls! What am I going to do?'

'Come on, Lils, time for some shopping.' Marlene got off her friend's bed and dragged the redhead out of the room. 

Throughout the entire day, Marlene accompanied her friend into every store that they could find, muggle and wizard alike. In the end, they had laughed away all of their issues, ranted about everything from snobbish girls at school to the Marauders and their pranking tendencies, to why Lily actually wanted to go to the party in the first place, instead of staying at home with a good book –which is what she has done for any other party invite by Potter.

'Marlene, I think I'm going insane.'

'You think?' asked McKinnon, taking a minute from browsing the clothing on the racks, to stare in amazement at the pretty redheaded girl beside her. Avoiding the smack aimed at her shoulder, Marlene continued 'Why, what's up, Lils?'

'I'm just so confused about Potter. I was so sure that I hated him, for years, but now… I mean look at me! I'm going to a party at his place, stressing about what I'm going to wear, even after what happened with Severus. What's wrong with me?' Lily finished, with a dramatic flair as she tossed her head back with a sigh.

'Do you hate James? All the time?' questioned her friend, a slight smile hidden beneath her cough.

'No, I don't think so.' She said thoughtfully. 'But I swear I don't fancy him!' she finished in a rush, with a pointed glare at her friend.

'That's not what I'm saying, Lils.' She said patiently. 'I just think that you don't have him figured out as well as you thought. Did you know he's pranking a lot less? And what pranks he does pull, they're mostly harmless. He doesn't pick on people for fun anymore, except maybe for Snape.' Lily looked thoughtful. McKinnon thought she might be able to get away with making one more point before getting something launched at her face. 'Besides, maybe once he's toned down his ego some more, you'll actually say yes to a date.' She said with a smile. She was not prepared for having to defend the rest of her body. Lily, using quick reflexes, managed to start poking her friend repeatedly in her sides with the clothes hanger.

‘No! Stop it! Stop, Lily, stop it, please!' she begged, laughing and squealing as she tried to run away.

Taking pity on her, Lily placed the hanger back on the rack. 'So, I'm thinking this shirt, with these shorts and those shoes.' She said, lifting up two articles of clothing, and pointing at a pair of comfortable looking sandals over on the shoe rack.

'Perfect.' Said Marlene, smiling. They started laughing as they heard McKinnon's stomach growling, and went to pay before heading out in search of food.

OoOoO

The week leading up to the party was quite stressful for Jamed Potter. Thankfully, he was hidden in the kitchen, and therefore out of anyone's way. The only problem was that he was in charge of doing all of the cooking, which meant that he was surrounded by knives while he was distracted. It was a good thing that his father, as Head Auror, insisted upon all of them learning a few basic healing spells, otherwise it would've seemed as if James actually wanted to lose a couple fingers.

James wasn't known for being distractible. While playing Quidditch, it has so far been impossible to get his head out of the game. However, this is mostly due to the fact that Sirius has never been seriously injured. However, this week saw James being very antsy and frenzied.

This could be most demonstrated once Remus had returned from Lily's. James barely let Remus step a foot inside before he was pestering him for information. 

'Well? How did it go? What did she say? Did she say she'd come? What were you two even doing all day, anyways?-'

'Whoa, Prongs, let me stop you there. I don't know what she said, I left before I got an answer.' James was halfway into opening his mouth when Remus continued. 'Don't you dare interrupt me, it's better this way, trust me.'

'How? How could it possibly be better?'

'James. Stop. Go back to the kitchen, let me have a shower, and then I'll explain.'

Remus left his friend in the foyer, and while going up the wide staircase down the hall, he heard shouts of 'Well, why do you need a shower so bad? Remus? Remus!'

Laughing quietly to himself, he walked into their shared bedroom to gather a change of clothes. He saw Sirius and Peter lounging on their beds and smiled knowingly at each other, before Remus crossed the room and closed the door to the bathroom.

After he toweled off, Remus quickly got dressed and ran a comb through his slightly shaggy, light brown hair. Looking into the mirror, Remus was able to see four, no five, scratch marks that covered his face thanks to his 'furry little problem,' as James called it. Silently, Lupin would be the first to admit that he looked horrible, in need of a long sleep and a whole month of constant eating before he would look less sickly. _Maybe I should move in with Lily_ , he thought with a chuckle.

Huffing at his reflection, Remus exited the bathroom, and waved farewell to Sirius and Peter. He left them sitting on their couches gossiping like thirteen-year-old girls, and went downstairs. He turned down the lightly painted hallway, filled with family portraits taken during multiple vacations or Christmas breaks, and entered the kitchen in search of his impatient friend.

The kitchen was all the way at the back of the house, facing the point where the quidditch pitch and the forest met in the middle, forming a large room shaped in an upside down 'v'. Multiple windows cover as much of the two exterior walls as possible, making the kitchen the brightest room in the house. Most of the wall space that was bare of windows was instead covered by cherry wooden cupboards, with a pale cream-colored marble countertop. There was an island in the middle of the room, with a large breakfast nook able to fit 6 nestled up in the corner covered by windows. Everything in the room was meant to be serene and calm, and the walls were painted a pale and subdued yellow.

'Remus!' pounced James. ‘I really don't understand why you didn't wait for a response.' James said.

'Do you want to come off as needy? James, you ask her out every shot you get, and where does that get you? She says no, every bloody time and I hate it; I hate seeing the look you get on your face every time it happens. This way, at least no one's trying to convince her and we can see if she's actually willing to come and hang out with all of us.'

'Alright alright. Fair enough. Oh! That reminds me. We'll have to ask Twitch about making breakfast for all of us, I'll finally be off of kitchen duty.' James said in a wistful manner.

'I wouldn't stress too much about that, mate. I think I know someone who'd be quite fine with making enough breakfast to feed an army.' Remus said, chuckling.

OoOoO

On the night of the party, all of the Gryffindor girls were gathered in Alice's bedroom. None of the girls were all that enthusiastic when it came to explaining their sleeping arrangements to their parents. Mutually, they agreed on saying that they would be staying at the Griffiths residence for the night, keeping Alice company.

'Alice! Hurry up! I need to use the bathroom!' Dorcas hollered, pounding on the door until she heard the shower turn off. Opening the door, she saw Alice Griffiths step out of the bathroom, a towel covering her body and her hair up in another one.

'Knock yourself out, but there isn't any hot water left.' Alice said, chuckling as she bolted upstairs and away from her friend's reach. She closed the door to her bedroom just as the sounds of the water turning on and then off, a scream, and yells of 'You twerp!' could be heard from downstairs.

'What did I tell you?' Alice muttered, giggling as she finished toweling off and got dressed. Five minutes later, she emerged in a pair of dark jean shorts, a deep red colored tank, and a gold locket dangling from her neck. Carrying her shoes, a pair of black strappy sandals, she joined her other friends in the spare bedroom, belting out a laugh as she saw Dorcas glowering at her over the heads of their other friends from across the room.

'Have a nice shower, Dork?' Alice asked, a small smile on her lips and her shoulders shaking as she attempted to hold in her laughter, if only for her friend's benefit.

Lily and Marlene were looking very confused at their friends' antics, but attempted to tune them out as they finished getting ready for the party- they had been the first two people to shower, and as they had finished doing their makeup, they moved to their hair. Marlene doing a wavy-braided sort of look, Lily with messy curls.

'That nickname is only allowed to be used by friends, and friends leave each other hot water!' Dorcas hollered at her, launching a pillow at Alice's face. Unfortunately, she did not have Lily's aim nor her force, and Alice was able to knock the pillow aside, despite her fits of laughter.

Setting down the hair curler, Lily got up and launched a pillow at both girls. Alice's laughing was interrupted as a shocked look appeared on her face, but once Lily demanded to know what was going on and Dorcas pointed to her, she couldn’t stop laughing long enough to explain. After regaining her composure, Alice gave a brief explanation of what happened and watched, shocked, as Lily performed a cleaning spell on Dorcas, who had not been able to shower.

'Lily! That was underage magic, you could be expelled. Aren't you supposed to be a prefect?' asked a shocked Dorcas, examining her freshly washed and dried hair.

Marlene chuckled 'Dork, Alice’s house is registered with the Ministry of Magic. They aren't able to tell who performed the magic, just where it was done. They won't spare it a second look at what Lily just did, because they just assume your parents did it. Trust me, I do it all the time at home.' Marlene said with a smile.

'If only James knew she had a rebellious side; he might propose then and there!' Alice said, a new fit of giggles following another pillow launched at her face.

'Shut up, loser.' Lily said, handing her a hairbrush, a look in her eyes that said she should stop talking and take the brush. The overall effect was unfortunately ruined however, by the small smile on her face.

Once all the girls were ready, Lily would be performing a warming charm on everyone to keep them warm on the broom ride over. Lily walked past them in a pair of white-washed high-rise jean shorts and a flowing forest green tank top and began casting.

As Lily didn't own a broom of her own, which happened to be a main reason for her not playing on the Quidditch team, she would be borrowing one of the Meadowes' for the night. Marlene, being the only girl who knew the directions to the Potter household like the back of her hand, would lead them all, with Lily bringing up the rear to make sure none of them were seen.

Lily absolutely adored flying. While she had a slight fear of heights, this never applied to when she was soaring through the sky on a broom. Unable to enjoy the feeling of leaving all of your doubts and fears on the ground as often as she would've liked to, Lily made up for it now. She had volunteered to be in the back mainly so she could practice spinning and drops- she loved seeing the ground rush up to her and feeling herself soaring away once again from all of her troubles. Flying left her head reeling and her face smiling, her mind calmer and her body freer. 

As the much-too-short broom ride – in Lily's opinion anyways – was coming to a close, Lily could see her friends start their descent. Dropping was her favourite part of flying. And so, with as much excitement contained in her small body as possible, Lily went up even higher, waiting to see which house her friends landed in front of.

And so, with a brilliant smile on her face, she dropped through the air, her laugh echoing all around, and causing more than one head to turn.


	6. Chapter 6

Once Lily landed and got off the broom, it took her awhile to be able to stop smiling. She performed the counter for the warming charm she had placed on all of the girls, and her smile only grew at the expression on James’ face as he walked over, looking shocked and delighted.

'I was not expecting that Lily-Flower! You need to try out for the team!' exclaimed Sirius.

'Sirius, I don't think that name applies anymore. By the looks of it, she could kick your arse on a broom.' Said Remus.

'Thanks, boys. What did you think, James?' Lily asked, smiling secretly.

'Sodding hell, Evans. You're amazing, and you're in shit for never telling me.' Said James attempting to look upset, but unable to contain the shock and glee.

OoOoO

Later in the evening, they all gathered around the kitchen eating, drinking and laughing. 

'I hate not finishing books! It's horrible.' Said Remus, attracting the redhead's attention over the heated conversation between James, herself, and Dorcas over quidditch.

'What's the point in even reading the book if you don't want to finish it?' asked Lily.

'Remus, didn't you punch Sirius one year for trying to take your book?' asked Alice with a laugh.

'Oh, I remember that! That was while Sirius and I were carrying Remus down the stairs for dinner and he only had one chapter left.' James said with a fond chuckle.

'Oi, you didn't even get punched! You were only carrying him, I was the one trying to wrestle the book from him!' cried Sirius indignantly.

'And  _ that _ is why you got punched!' smirked Remus.

After awhile, the group set up all of the food and brought their drinks into the family room. Lily laughed when she saw James pointing between her and the television set, as if to prove that he had been telling her the truth back in Diagon Alley.

Lily began to think over the evening and pondered her awkwardness; she had never really hung out with the Marauders before, and so was unsure of the group dynamic. Eventually, she decided to just take her cues from her friends, and she began wielding her sass wittily - without intending to hurt.

'Oi! We should play a card game. How about my version of cheat?' The girls looked intrigued, if not a little wary, whereas the guys merely looked terrified. They had already played before and James cringed.

'Do we have to? That version is dangerous.' James shuddered, piquing Lily's interest.  _ There seems to be a story there… _

' _ Scared _ , Potter?' teased Lily, 'How do you play, Black?'

'Alright, so, the aim is to get rid of all your cards by playing them to a discard pile; every player goes around in turn, discarding whatever is in line. Aces, then twos, threes, and so on. Since cards are played face down, it gives players the option to lie about the cards they are playing. If the lie is exposed, they must pick up the entire discard pile. My version is that on top of being able to lie, you can cheat by using magic and any other means necessary, but if you have to pick up the discard pile, you have to take a shot.' explained Sirius excitedly.

'The last time we played, James did over a dozen shots all together.' Remus said, patting a wincing James t, muffling his laughter as he did so.

'Seriously, Potter? Your game's weak!' laughed Dorcas.

Remus, Peter, Frank and the girls agreed to play, and James reluctantly nodded as well. Sirius dealt up the cards, talking away as he did so.

'I can't wait for you guys to see drunk James. When Marlene, Alice and Dorcas are around, he doesn't usually drink as much as he normally would- probably so he doesn't make that much of an idiot of himself in fear that the girls would tell Ginger. Mind you, he's only successful because we don't play these games. He gets smashed every time. It's hilarious.' Laughed Sirius. The Marauders and Frank, who actually spent a lot of time hanging around them all, started sharing stories of a drunken James throughout the years, much to their friend's dismay.

'In fourth year, -' started Remus, already chuckling.

'No. Not this one! That's not fair, Remus.' Protested James. 

' - I think this was his first-time drinking, but, anyways, he did  _ not _ handle his alcohol well. We had all gathered around the fire in the common room and we started playing a game of exploding snap. Once the cards started exploding all over the place, James started freaking out, thinking the fire was going to explode. He started spitting at it, trying to put it out, and then he- he-' Remus was unable to finish his story, as he snickered.

Frank continued the story for the werewolf, who had fallen to the floor in his state. 'And then he got the  _ brilliant _ idea to put it out with water. The only problem with his genius plan was that he was too drunk to realize the difference between water and vodka – Sirius had convinced the bartender at the Hogshead that Muggle alcohol had a lower age restriction on it, and so that’s where he gets most of his stash – and started dumping three quarters of his bottle on the fire before any of us realized what he was doing. By that time, the only thing we could do was shove the table away and have Sirius tackle James to the floor, otherwise he might've set both Gryffindor tower and himself on fire.' laughed Frank.

'That's not even the worst part!' interjected Peter 'Afterwards, he got all pouty, demanding that whoever drank the three quarters of his vodka had better fess up and give him their drink, because he was feeling "rather thirsty and could use a nice cool drink". He was so hung over the next day that he couldn't even bear to flirt with Evans because he was so focused on not getting ill all over the corridors.' James just harrumphed and asked when they could actually start playing the game, rather than continue their own twisted version of bullying.

At the end of the first round, Lily was amazed at the amount of cheating that went on. Apparently, Dorcas knew the game by the American name, Bullshit, which is what she yelled while pointing at who she assumed was the offender.

Sirius was almost going out of his way to cheat,if only for the booze, because his cheating was extremely apparent.

The girls soon realized how competitive each one was, as Lily always made it look like she cheated, and yet was nearly undetectable when she actually did. James and Peter fell for it nearly every time, and Sirius would always be the only one to call her out whenever she actually cheated, which led her to believe that he wasn't as smashed as he acted.

Alice was almost as hopeless as Sirius, only Lily knew that it wasn't on purpose. The girl had a rubbish poker face, and would fidget after every hand in which she cheated. Frank knew her too well as well, as whenever Lily hadn't been paying attention, he would be the first person to call his girlfriend out.

Marlene was almost as good as Lily was, having drunk only four shots to Lily's three by the time the game was over.

James wasn't the worst, not when compared to Alice and Sirius, but he still ended up taking seven shots, only one of them being intentional. The others managed to stay in the middle, but it was debated as to who the winner was. Eventually, after determining that Lily was the winner, she was congratulated by being ordered to take three more shots. Once she had finally caught up with the drinking, surprising everyone with her ability to hold her alcohol, the group decided to leave the cards alone and they all moved to the family room.

Some settled on the various loveseats and couches that were arranged in a sort of L shape around the large room, but Lily and James both sat on the floor, leaning up against the wall to better face their friends (Remus would go on to describe to friends and family in the future that it was like they gravitated towards each other from the start, earning him a smile from James and a whack from Lily).

The group of friends decided to play Never Have I Ever, a drinking game where one person makes a statement of something that they have never done, and anyone who has must take a drink- it usually resulted in Sirius being extremely hung over the next morning, James only a little better.

'Alright. As the victor, Lily goes first.' announced Remus, handing Lily an alcopop where she sat on the floor.

'Ok, never have I ever… skipped class-without having a good reason.' 

‘Well, that all depends on your definition of a valid reason doesn’t it?’ Sirius asked, but received a pillow launched at his face before he had the chance to wink at her. Lily's statement earned more sarcastic remarks from the entire group, as everyone aside from Dorcas, who happened to be quite studious, took a drink. 

'Never have I ever been in a muggle theatre performance.' James declared, laughter in his eyes as both Remus and Peter shamelessly took a drink from their bottles. They simply blamed their mothers.

To all of their amazement, Marlene also took a drink. At their incredulous looks Marlene shrugged. 'What? I was fourteen and I found out Marcus, the attractive boy from across the road was going to be in it. Too bad he was gay, but I snogged that guy Thomas instead. You know him, Lils. Tall, black hair,  _ amazing _ kisser?'

'Why would Lily know him by his snogging abilities?' Interrupted James, staring at a blushing Lily. She shoved his shoulder as she nodded her agreement to Marlene, looking a little wistful.

'Never have I ever broken into the kitchens at school.' Declared Alice. She wasn't surprised when Frank and all of the Marauders took a drink, however her eyes bulged as she saw Lily take one as well.

'You know I would bloody well do anything short of killing a man to get chocolate.' She sniffed at Alice, much to everyone’s hasty agreement.

In their fourth year, Remus hadn't been paying attention in Potions, as he was feeling under the weather. The full moon was two days away, but no one aside from the Marauders knew why that would have any effect on him. Accidentally, Remus blew up his potion and asked Lily to take the blame because Slughorn adored her and would never give her detention. Lily agreed on the condition that Remus give her chocolate, and so Remus started carrying around chocolate wherever he went to give to Lily, should he ever need something.

'Never have I ever been compared to a firecracker.' Remus said, laughing as James, Lily, Marlene and Sirius each took a drink.

'Never have I ever rolled down the stairs, covered in bubble wrap.' Peter chuckled as both Frank and Alice blushingly took a drink. However, it was suspected that their blushing had more to do with them remembering the snogging that had followed, rather than the activity itself.

After a while of playing the game, James was delighted. He now knew even more about Lily, in that she was  _ quite _ the prankster herself. As it turns out, she had been the one who kept on pranking the Marauders in second year, and her only defense was that she wanted them to stop strutting and that she thought it was the perfect excuse to practice some spells that she had taught herself. She had used a sticking charm on them in the Great Hall one morning, so that the boys ended up missing a whole day of classes because they couldn't separate their arses from the bench. She also turned Sirius' hair pink and gave him clown makeup, and cast a jinx on James that made him belt out Christmas carols for over three hours. They all laughed at the memories. Sirius, Remus and Peter were sending her mock glares, but James just looked at her with approval and pride in his eyes. Frank knew that they were getting pranked, however he was never involved as he didn't strut, at least according to Lily. James vowed to bring her up to their dormitory one Saturday afternoon and let her reconsider her opinion then.

OoOoO

As the night went on, the groups split up. Peter fell asleep sprawled over the couch, and Alice and Frank snuck off for a walk outside. For the rest of the group, they continued talking, story-telling and laughing. Peter had woken up from his nap and Alice and Frank slipped back into the room, looking slightly disheveled. Seeing that everyone had returned, a slightly staggering Remus yelled out 'TWISTER!' at the top of his lungs as he produced the game from behind his back. Despite the mass groaning erupting from the others, they all agreed to join with large smiles covering their faces. Sirius was the most excited of all, jumping about like an excited puppy. After setting up the game, it was decided that Peter –still a little sleepy from his nap –would man the panel while the others would play the game.

Once they were all standing around the mat, Peter called out 'Right foot, blue!'. Sirius was standing in the middle, stretching his foot over the row of blue and the row of red. 'You lot'll be so surprised, just watch how far I can bend over backwards.' He said with a wink in Lily and Marlene's direction, much to James' annoyance. The girls just laughed and challenged him to prove it by winning.

After fifteen minutes of playing, it was only James, Lily and Sirius left. Lily's left hand was thrown over James' torso, touching the red, and her right foot was in between Sirius' legs, on the yellow. Sirius stopped taunting Lily about it when she reminded him that she'd much rather kick him there than do anything else. He was so shocked that when he moved his left hand near her head on the blue and she pretended to bite him, he shrieked and fell over, losing the game. James, laughing so hard, would've fallen over, had it not been for Lily's left foot, right under his lower-back.

While trying to ignore the warmth emanating from James’ torso, Lily focused on her feet. When she moved her left foot over James' torso, along with the hand that had not moved for two minutes, she started to question the calls that Peter made. She highly doubted that they were still playing fair, forgoing the panel for calling out whatever would render the two in the most compromising position possible. Her train of thought was confirmed by the muffled giggling coming from her friends, who were all huddled and seemed to be debating their next call. Finally, with a 'Right hand, Blue!', Lily moved hers to just beside James' right thigh, and his hand went near her head. With that movement, James was almost lying on top of her, pinning her with his other hand. Her hand and leg were thrown over him. Staring into his eyes, she wasn't so sure that she could identify what she saw amid the hazel and flecks of gold and blue. She just knew that she was in no particular hurry to move, aside from moving her hair so that it could better cover the blush rising up her cheeks.

As James looked down at her, he knew what his friends were doing; when he looked into the bright green eyes staring back at him, for once not filled with tears or hatred, but glowing with embarrassment and laughter, he found that he didn't care all that much. He could tell by her shifting that she wanted to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks, but she couldn't quite get the required height to do so, as his body was barely hovering over hers. Their friends called out the next move, for a left hand, and James knew that that would mean that he'd be directly on top of her-it was either have it over her head or across her chest. He knew which one she'd prefer, and frankly, with their audience giggling not seven feet away, he knew which one he'd prefer too. Moving his hand over her head, he was pinning her on both sides.

With warmth in his eyes, he murmured 'Hi there, Lils. Fancy seeing you here.'

His face was covered by his smile, lighting up his eyes and showcasing his freckles. Judging by the way that her laughter caught, he quickly reverted back to his usual smirk.

That is, until he heard her whisper to him, so quiet that no one else could hear, 'You know, I like the real smile much better.' He was so shocked that he almost fell down on top of her. Sadly, in doing so, she lost her balance and fell to the ground. With a small smile, she said 'I guess you win. Congrats.'

And then she was gone, out from under him and stalking towards the group, grabbing a pillow on the way. James laughed when he saw how scared the girls and Remus were, and they started apologizing and trying to escape from her. Sirius called them cowards and dared them to face her. He, Frank and Peter were the only ones who had no idea what was coming, and, therefore, were unprepared for the whack that followed. Sirius was knocked to the floor, and sat up looking dazed. He then looked at her in wonder as she started on Marlene, Alice, Dorcas and Remus.

‘I’m never playing Twister with any of you again, you obviously can’t be trusted.’ Lily said, laughing as she chased Marlene around the coffee table with the pillow.

James looked for Peter and was not shocked when he saw a rat peeking out from under the couch. He started laughing but stopped when he realized what Lily would say when she started looking for him. Glaring at the rat, he pointed to the couch, where there was just barely enough space for Peter to switch back.

Once Lily had exacted revenge on all their friends, she tossed bottles of butterbeer to everyone as a show of forgiveness. She took one for herself and walked over to James, who still sat on the mat, chuckling from the redhead's antics. She breathlessly hauled him to his feet and handed him his butterbeer, drinking her own with a wide smile.

When James and Sirius’ stomachs started growling, the group moved back to the kitchen table and attacked the spread of snacks that were laid out for them all.

Seeing a cupcake with pink frosting, Peter started chuckling. 'One time, Filch was chasing us down the corridors because he caught us trying to paint Mrs. Norris pink, and Peeves started pelting bits of chalk at him an yelling out "no running in the corridors!" .' said Peter.

'To be fair, though, we did hang Mrs. Norris on the chandelier right before that as well…' added Remus.

Laughing, Lily said 'The things that I've done to Mrs. Norris are far worse than hanging her on a chandelier and turning her pink.'

'Oh yeah? Like what?' asked James.

'Well, for starters, trapping her in every single suit of armor that I see her near is pretty liberating, but not as much as locking her in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.' Lily exclaimed proudly.

'Wait, you're telling me, that you've been the one doing all of that?! We have been singing your high praises since third year!' Sirius exclaimed.

'Just because I don't get caught doesn't mean that I don't rebel.' winked Lily.

After the hoots of laughter died down, Frank said, 'Does anybody remember when James, Peter and Remus wrestled Sirius, kicking and screaming into a Christmas tree? 

‘It was because we were trying to put him on top because he’s a star, it’s not like we didn’t have a reason.' Remus joked.

Laughing, Marlene asked, 'Wasn't he only wearing gold skin-tight trousers at the time?'

'So glad that you remembered.' purred Sirius.

'Only because it gave me nightmares for the next month.' retorted Marlene, much to everyone's amusement. She winked at Sirius, who kept sputtering in indignation.

‘If you weren’t in on the joke to put you on top of the tree, why on earth were you wearing those ridiculous trousers in the first place?’ Dorcas inquired, eyes twinkling.

‘They charmed them, okay?’ Sirius insisted, blushing profusely, to everyone’s laughing disbelief.

OoOoO

As the evening drew on, none of the group of friends were in their beds more than four hours. Frank and the Marauders set up their beds in James’ room, and the girls shared their own room down the hall. Everyone decided that it was time to crash around four in the morning, and so Lily went with the girls to their shared bedroom down the hall from the boys.

Collapsing on the bed, she laid awake, staring at the ceiling, long after the regular rhythm of Marlene’s snoring and the sleepy muttering of Dorcas could be heard. 

After tossing and turning but being unable to shut her brain off, Lily went back downstairs. Leaving the lights off, she grabbed a glass of water and went to look out at the moon. Or rather what was left of it, for the full moon had been the previous week. She stared up at the stars, admiring their beauty, as she often did late into the night while in her Hogwarts dorm. She felt chilled in her baggy t-shirt that fell to her hips and her loose short shorts, and wrapped her arms around her torso. She continued her star-gazing, and pondered how her life had changed since the fateful day of the DADA OWL. Her musings were cut short when someone coughed from behind her, and she turned, the moonlight falling on her hair and making her glow.


	7. Chapter 7

Growing up in the Black family, there were select families that Sirius could see. Most of the days were spent only with other Blacks. Despite the family tree reaching far and wide, Walburga Black did her best to ensure Sirius only spent his time with the _toujours pur,_ being only other Blacks in name. While Regulus was still too young to be interesting, Sirius knew that Bellatrix would only try to come up with more ways to hurt him without leaving a mark so she couldn’t get into trouble; Narcissa was too caught up in cosmetic charms and which boys will be at the next party. Andromeda, or Andy as she let only Sirius call her, was the only friend he had growing up, despite the fact that she was a great deal older than he. Perhaps it was because she too refused to spend any more time with Bellatrix than was necessary, and she was not particularly fond of the boys Narcissa was so keen to gossip over; but perhaps she saw Sirius’ wild, uncaring personality and felt as if they were kindred spirits. As she came back from Hogwarts year after year, she grew more and more weary of having to put on the Black persona around the family, and she knew that Sirius was the only one who would be more appreciative of the person underneath.

During the great big family gatherings, all the families would come together for days, weeks, at a time. Sirius and Andy would often sneak down to the kitchens in the middle of the night for a late-night snack. They would sneak downstairs to find whatever pastries they could. Once she was disowned and no longer welcome anywhere around him, he vowed to never do it again, because it didn’t feel right to do that without her. That promise didn't last long, as the next night he was sent to bed without supper for being late and missing lunch.

That night, Sirius snuck downstairs after hours of debating with himself, feeling ashamed for doing this without her. He went back upstairs with only an apple, leaving the pastries as further self-punishment for what he felt had been a betrayal of his cousin. But as his punishment of no supper continued night after night, he stopped thinking about it; he would take apples, cheeses, and whatever else he could, but he never again took the pastries.

It wasn't until his little brother Regulus got sent to bed without supper that he brought someone else along. That night, Reg had defended Andy at the supper table against the whole family and had immediately been dismissed. Sirius was shocked, but recovered enough to try to defend his brother. He too was dismissed. That night, Sirius quietly tapped on his brother's door and waited. When a sleepy Regulus opened up his door, his eyes widened in curiosity when he saw his brother, holding out his hand to lead him in the dark.

He took Sirius' hand, knowing that he was the only family member he would've done so with so quickly. Sirius led Reg downstairs, creeping past the sleeping house-elf, Kreacher, and went into the kitchen noiselessly. For the first time in many months, Sirius reached up above the pantry shelves and grabbed the pastries.

Handing one to Reg, he took one for himself and then proceeded to grab cheeses, meats and fruits. That night, they feasted in Sirius' room, and every night afterward, for years, until Sirius went to Hogwarts.

Once at Hogwarts, it only took Sirius a week before he found the kitchens. After years of being refused food as punishment, Sirius ate large helpings during his meals as a precaution, and always had a late-night snack. It became so ingrained that he was not consciously aware of what he was doing, and the only reason that he was so scrawny was because he spent half his days running around the castle.

One week into Sirius’ nightly escapades to the kitchens, he heard someone else in his hideaway. Before rounding the corner, Sirius took a moment to brace himself, cooling his features into that of an air of importance, of authority, in hopes that his presence might not be questioned there.

As he entered the large room, Sirius walked into an invisible wall and stumbled. While swearing at his rotten luck, he found himself confused. Despite not seeing anyone there, he could’ve sworn that he heard someone breathing.

'Hello?' Sirius whispered, stumbling around with his arms out, trying to feel for the invisible wall. His outstretched hands wrapped themselves in a cool, smooth fabric and yanked, as the head of one James Potter became visible. Potter’s body was revealed as the rest of the fabric fell to the floor. He tried to pass off a smirk, but Sirius knew that it was only to conceal his nervousness.

He didn't know Potter very well. Even though they were both purebloods, his parents didn't attend the same kind of functions as his. They only really met on the Hogwarts train and Sirius had been reclusive, only sharing the same compartment because there were no others left. He watched as James chattered and befriended Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin, two boys in their year, and refrained from joining in. Aside from making small talk in the mornings, Sirius didn't talk much with the other boys. His disquiet stemmed from a large pool of anxiety at the thought of his family’s reaction to his sorting. It wasn’t that he wasn't relieved to be sorted into a different house than Slytherin, because after all, it's what he had dared to ask for. No, his loneliness at being in Gryffindor and shunned from his family wasn't the worst thing that happened. Instead, it was the fact that he had a feeling that Reg wouldn't be the same when Sirius came home. He had a nagging feeling that his family had gotten to him and that Reg wouldn't want to sneak midnight snacks anymore. Feeling quite depressed, Sirius hadn't made quite the effort to make new friends as he should have, which was why he was quite thoroughly shocked at the words that came out of Potter’s mouth.

'Um, hi. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be here, but it's just that I wake up starving in the middle of the night and I heard something about the kitchens so I had to find it. Please don't report me to McGonagall!'

Sirius was so shocked that he could only sputter ‘Report you? You aren’t going to report me?’

‘Why would I do that? I just want more dessert!’ Said James, appalled at the thought of being a blabbermouth.

Sirius’ laugh surprised even him, and prompted him to ask James to join him. Once they were sat at the table with food all around them, the boys got to talking and they found they had a lot in common. Conversation flowed easily between the two, and Sirius was able to be distracted from thoughts of his family for the first time since coming to the school. After a few nights of walking down to the kitchens together, Sirius grabbed some pastries while James explained what the cool, soft fabric was and how he had been made invisible.

Ever since then, the boys would go down to the kitchens as soon as one's stomach started grumbling, especially if it was in the middle of the night. When Sirius came over to James', James would start baking, their laughter and camaraderie filling the kitchen with warmth that lasted long into the night.

OoOoO

It was very late by the time all of the Gryffindors were ready to go to bed. James and Sirius spent a few extra minutes tidying things up in the living room before heading up themselves. James had barely laid down on his bed when he heard Sirius' stomach growl loudly, and both boys broke out in laughter.

They tried to be as quiet as possible while descending to the kitchen, hoping to avoid waking anyone. Sirius had just reached the doorway when he threw out his arm to block James' path, drawing his wand as he did so. Only when James caught up to him did Sirius recognize the figure staring out the window, the moonlight red hair. Coughing, the boys stepped into the moonlight as Lily turned her head, smiling as she took in the disgruntled exhaustion pouring off the boys. However, she laughed when she heard both the boys' stomachs growl.

'Mornin'. You boys hungry, or what?' Lily asked with a small smirk, seeming to come out of a daze. She had an odd sort of twinkle in her eyes that had yet to fade.

_Damn, I love those shorts,_ he thought. Her short pajama shorts barely concealed anything of her thighs, leaving her long and shapely pale legs almost glowing in the moonlight. James had to pretend like he knew how to breathe properly.

Sirius’ thoughts were of a different vein entirely. _With those legs, she should easily be able to run the laps during quidditch practice. It's a good thing she seems to adore flying. Why hasn't she ever tried out before?_

'It's kind of a long story.' Sirius answered Lily, barely remembering her original question as he was lost in thoughts of Quidditch.

Hearing Sirius’ answer shook James from his thoughts. James had never actually heard the full story, and while would never press his friend into revealing something so fragile, he could tell Padfoot felt uncomfortable whenever it was mentioned. He was therefore surprised when Sirius got out all of their baking stuff, and started telling them both about how he and his cousin Andy, and then Reg, and finally James had all snuck down to the kitchen for food and pastries, and how it had evolved when they were at the Potter's to them just baking.

After a long silence where Sirius wouldn't meet neither James' nor Lily's eyes, James got out Padfoot's favorite cookbook and began looking for something that they were in the mood for.

Both boys looked up, surprised, when Lily tied her long red hair up into a quick, messy braid and went to wash her hands asking 'So, what are we making?' along the way. When she saw their incredulous looks, Lily glanced at them amusedly and said 'You didn't honestly think that I would go back to bed when I know that you two are baking, did you? Whatever you're making had better have chocolate in it though.'

'Fair enough.' Sirius smiled. 'What do you think about chocolate cheesecake, then?'

'Sounds perfect.' said James, moving to gather the ingredients.

'You'll love it, trust me.' Sirius said to Lily with a wink.

'You had me at chocolate. Tell me what to do.'

By the time Sirius had passed her the eggs and told her they needed to crack six of them, Lily had already cracked four. James and Sirius stared at her, impressed.

'What? I cook with eggs all the time.' She continued with her beating, until she noticed that the boys were still looking at her skeptically. 'I love making breakfast, just ask Remus. I make enough to feed an army when he comes over.' She smiled, almost shyly.

James blinked and exclaimed 'So _you're_ the one who's relieved me from kitchen duty! Remus never told me you could cook.'

'Wait, so you mean that you made all of the food that was served tonight? What about your house elf, Twitch?' Lily asked. Sirius smiled when he saw James practically _preen_ over the fact that Lily appreciated his cooking, _and_ that she remembered Twitch's name- not many wizards would bother, but the Potters considered Twitch family.

Sirius started on the cheesecake as James and Lily kept on talking, which soon turned to bantering, barely getting anything accomplished aside from launching flour at each other.

There seemed to be a truce settled over the flour after they were both covered head to toe in white, Sirius decided to take advantage of the peace and ask 'So Lily, how come you've never tried out for the quidditch team before? Surely it wasn't purely because of Prongs over here?' He jerked his head in the direction of his indignant best friend.

'Hey!' Cried James. 'That wasn't it, was it, Evans?' He asked worriedly, risking a glance in her direction.

'Partly,' Lily said, looking down at her hands. 'Only it's not the entire reason.' After pausing for a heartbeat, Lily continued. 'I've never owned my own broom.' She said simply. 'In first year, I fell in love with flying, but the school has that policy of first years not being allowed on the team. I used to practice on the quidditch pitch in the mornings before everyone else woke up, sometimes before even the sun was up, just racing the wind down to each end of the pitch. By the time second year came around, I still flew whenever I could, but the brooms offer so little control when you need to turn. I didn't want to use an unreliable one during games. I refused to ask my parents to buy me a broom of my own, and I didn't want to risk breaking a friend's if I were to borrow it. So, I just never bothered trying out, giving me another reason to avoid the prat over there was just a bonus.' She finished with a weak smile and continued with making the dessert.

'You know the Potter's have their own private quidditch pitch, right? The boys, McKinnon and I practically spend all summer out there, but it sucks because we're a player short of even teams. I'm sure James would let you borrow one of his brooms to practice with.' Sirius said, trying to come off nonchalant, but utterly failing by stealing looks between the two.

'Absolutely.' James said without missing a beat. Smiling, he added 'And after seeing you fly today, Evans, I need to know which position to plan you in for the Gryffindor quidditch team this year.'

Lily was still trying and failing to think up an excuse for not going- which turned out to be harder than she thought it would- when James brandished the dessert, declaring it ready to be eaten. After a few minutes of contemplative chewing, Lily declared appreciatively 'I have to admit, you guys make a damn good cheesecake.'

Once they cleaned up the kitchen, Lily started giggling to herself.

'What's so funny, Evans?' Asked James, a confused smile gracing his mouth.

'Nothing- nothing, really.' Lily gasped, her shoulders shaking.

'Don't make me tickle it out of you.' Said Sirius, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

'Don't you dare, Black!' Lily said, glaring at him, in an attempt to regain her composure. While a few chuckles escaped her, she managed to look at them in the eyes as she said 'I was just thinking at how different things are. Just earlier this week, Remus begged me to move in with you guys during the summer because of my cooking. I told him that that would be very counter-productive, as I would smother the two of you in your sleep.' Here she pointed at the boys seated in front of her, both of whom looked equally affronted, but when Lily continued, she couldn't tell if it was directed at Remus or her for laughing. 'Remus contradicted me by adding that I'd probably get away with it even if you both were awake.' She said, chuckling to herself quietly to herself as she took another look at James' and Sirius' faces.

'Oi!' Demanded James. 'Did you hear her?' He turned to Padfoot, who looked rather indignant himself. 'You could not take us!'

'Yeah! _Jamesie_ over here is an extremely light sleeper, so fat chance of getting away with that!' Lily almost fell off her chair at _Jamesie's_ look of mortification, but Sirius merely continued, ‘and, I'd like to see you take us when we're awake. We've spent years doing quidditch training you know. There's a reason all the girls claim I have the body of a god!' he huffed.

Turning to his friend, James said, 'There is no way I'm a light sleeper, _Paddy_.' Sirius stifled what Lily suspected was a growl in his throat in response. He looked at his friend with a gleam in his eye as James merely continued. 'Not with the way you snore in your sleep- and don't even get me started on how many times you've kicked me in your sleep! Bloody annoying.'

When James finished, the gleam that Lily had seen in Sirius' eyes seemed to be reflected in James'. When Sirius and James both stood up, rather abruptly, and turned towards the backdoor, Lily followed confusedly. When they made their way outside, Lily saw both boys take measured paces away from each other. Glancing over their shoulders, the boys smiled at her.

'Hey Lils?' Sirius called, as he walked farther away from James, 'Please, for once in your life, don't interfere? Oh, and you, uh, might want to stand back a bit.'

Lily was utterly confused by this point, and could do nothing but back up. Her mouth dropped in shock when she saw James and Sirius whip out their wands. _Where did they even put them? They don't even have pockets!_ The boys began to launch charms and jinxes at each other.

' _Alarte Ascendare_!' James bellowed, causing Sirius to shoot up into the air.

Sirius managed to cast a cushioning charm, and then retaliated with _'Anteoculatia_!'

When James realized what Sirius had done, Sirius laughed so hard he had tears streaming down his face.

Feeling he felt the antlers that had grown on his head, James looked quite affronted. 'Mine are _so_ much nicer, Padfoot!' said James. Taking advantage of Sirius’ laughter, James quietly cast his retaliation, waiting for the moment that Sirius realized what he had done. He watched as Sirius sprouted a long, shaggy black tail, as well as upturned-ears on the top of his head.

The ridiculousness of the situation fell upon them and they both started laughing at each other. Suddenly, they both whirled on Lily with laughter and shouts of ' _Augmenti_!' and ' _Avifors'._ Lily was only just able to put up a shield charm that blocked the jet of water and the spell that would've turned her into a bird.

'Nice reflexes, Evans!' She could hear James calling appreciatively over from the other side of her shield charm, the wide smile evident in his voice – as was the challenge. 'How about we see if you can _actually_ turn me into a toad, as you've promised countless other times!'

'James, hasn’t it been 76 threats this past school year alone?' Sirius asked.

While James and Sirius debated back and forth, Lily could've sworn that their voices were coming closer. The shield charm she cast was good against physical assaults like the water charm, it now only served to block her line of sight. Once it fell, she would be taken by surprise, and she did _not_ want to deal with those two gloating.

Lily thought, with everything she could, ' _Ascendio!'_ and much to her relief, and surprise, Lily shot into the air. She let her shield charm end only once she was high above the heads of James and Sirius. With a smug smile, Lily saw that they had been approaching her, and that they were surprised when they didn't see her once her shield fell.

'Since when can you pull off non-verbal spells, Evans? We haven't even covered those yet!' Sirius exclaimed, proud despite himself.

' _You_ haven't. Reading the textbooks during the summer gives me something to do during the day. I'm _very_ grateful, as I'm sure you could imagine, that I started with Defence first.' Lily cackled, as she summoned Marlene's broom.

'We can fly too, Evans, you sure you want to go there?' James called to her.

'James, I think you're forgetting something; this broom is ten times better than what I'm used to!' Lily called as she sped off to the quidditch pitch peeking over the trees.

Swearing, James and Sirius summoned their brooms and sped after her, bright smiles adorning their faces.

OoOoO

James Potter was having the best night of his life. First, he stands a decent chance of convincing Evans to try out for the quidditch team, as long as she gets a broom, which he doesn't think will be a problem as long as it was given anonymously. Plus, it seems as if she can be in a room with him and Padfoot for hours on end without trying to strangle either of them.

Still a far enough distance away to not be overheard, Sirius sidled up along James and asked, 'Why didn't you tell her you can do non-verbal spells too? I know you can, you've been practicing on me since I got here.'

James smiled as he looked at her form zooming across the pitch. 'I don't want her to think that I was showing off, or make her feel bad. I didn't know that she already knew how, and I obviously can't do much more about it now, but at least we got her to play quidditch. Thanks for helping out.' They both picked up their speed in an attempt to entice Lily into a real game, positive that this time, she would not refuse.

OoOoO

Lily knew exactly what James and Sirius were up to, but she really didn't mind so much, at least she was back on a broom. Only having three people meant that they couldn’t play a proper game of quidditch, but they could still rotate positions to see which one works best for Lily. Lily started off as playing Keeper to James' Chaser and Sirius' Beater. She was more than slightly nervous, considering those were the positions the boys normally played.

'Ready, Lils?' called Sirius.

'Let's do this.' Answered Lily, refusing to let her nervousness show in her voice.

As the game commenced, it became apparent that Lily was not a skilled Keeper; however, she certainly wasn't the worst one the team had ever had. Soon enough, James swapped with her so that she could try out the Chaser position. That went marginally better, but tactically he knew that her flying would be restricted to formations and plays, and would limit her.

With a sheepish feeling, James realized he had almost forgotten about the pre-existing members of the team. As quidditch captain, James considered his active team and the remaining options. The only positions currently open are Seeker and Beater: James, Marlene and Dorcas were the team's Chasers, Sirius was the remaining Beater, and Frank was the Keeper.

Since the team would be creating a set of reserves for each position, James made sure to have Lily try every position. With the two remaining positions being what they were, James had Lily do drills to try to see how fast her reflexes were and how well she could maneuver her broom –and Merlin, was he _impressed_. By the end, James was practically jumping with glee on top of his broom.

'Oi, Potter! You'd better not fall before you tell me why you're so bloody happy.' Lily hollered.

'Happy? You think this is merely James being happy?! Evans, he is bloody ecstatic. Hell, we could've won the championship years ago had you been on the team! I'm more pissed that you weren't on the team before, but James has always looked on the positive side of things.' Said Sirius, turning from the view of his friend and beginning to head toward the ground. 'C'mon Prongs; Evans here has some eggs that need cracking. If you can manage to not break your neck in the meantime, I'm starving and Lily's in charge of breakfast.' He and the ginger landed on the grass, James following shortly behind.

OoOoO

In third year, the marauders officially only referred to Remus’ lycanthropy as his “Furry Little Problem” when they were out in public. This led many of his classmates to believe that Remus had a poorly behaved rabbit, who chewed through doors and generally made a mess of everything around him. Despite its many setbacks, Remus’ “Furry Little Problem” did have one advantage, in that he had heightened senses.

Remus always wakes when James and Sirius go down to the kitchens, but neither he nor Peter stirred that morning until they could smell the bacon, eggs, and pancakes, among other things, cooking sometime around eight. Recognizing the smell of Lily’s signature breakfast, he smiled and wondered at what state of living his two friends would be in when they encountered the definitely-not-a-morning-person redhead.

Just as Lily finished with the first round of food, the other three boys reached the main floor with their noses up in the air and practically running for the kitchen. Lily stayed only long enough to see them tear into the mountain of food heaped on the kitchen table before going upstairs to wake up the girls.

Five minutes and much screaming later, Alice, Dorcas, and Marlene came down the stairs completely soaked, while Lily sported brown fur, ears and a tail that resembled that of a doe. Sirius chortled into his pumpkin juice at the sight.

'What- what happened to you four?' Managed Frank, in between fits of laughter.

'They didn't want to get up. And _apparently_ , they didn't like being woken up with a bucket of cold water dumped on them, so, they retaliated. I don't know if any of you boys could pull this look off, but I seem to be rocking it.' Lily stated simply, with a bright smile as she sat down at the table and served herself. The Daily Prophet arrived with a plain barn owl, and James dropped the coins into the pouch tied to its feet before swiftly burying his blushing face in its pages. He refused to make eye contact with the rest of the Marauders, ignoring their sniggering.


	8. Chapter 8

After everyone left the Potters', Lily flew back to Dorcas’ place to drop off the borrowed broom and started her walk home. Grateful for the opportunity, she planned on spending the time trying to work out her muddled emotions over the previous night.

She felt so confused after spending so much time with James and Sirius, but she found herself surprisingly looking forward to doing it again. Despite not knowing what she'd been expecting exactly, their warmness still seemed to surprise her. In all of her years at Hogwarts, she had no idea just what James was willing to do for Sirius, and vice versa, but it hadn't been them baking at four in the morning. She found herself rather awed by their loyalty to each other.

 _If only Sev was like that._ She sighed. While she had refused to voice the nickname out loud after their falling out, she couldn't quite seem to manage addressing him by his full name in her head –she wasn't quite ready to let that go, even though she knew that she should. While their friendship was destroyed beyond repair, she found she could give up her childhood memories of before Hogwarts. His younger self would always be a part of her, but she refused to allow what he’d become anywhere near her.

Her emotions were still chaotic when the park where she and Sev used to spend their days came into view, half an hour later. Ignoring the painful memories that resurfaced, she turned her back on it just as the afternoon sun glinted off of the yellow slide. She did not however, go deaf –no matter how much she wished she did.

'Lily? Lily, I'm sorry, please wait for a second! I need to talk to you.' Severus called, running over to her from across the park.

'What do you want, Severus? I haven't slept since yesterday and I'm really not in the mood for this.' she huffed impatiently, silently cursing herself for not taking the longer route home, if only because it took her far away from the park.

Severus looked somewhere between miserable and pissed off. 'Why haven't you slept? Where were you? Are you okay?'

'Where I've been and what I've been doing is none of your business anymore, Snape.' she snapped.

'You're just like them. Potter and Black and Petunia and everyone that we ever said that we would never let each other be like! People that we never _wanted_ to be like. I guess you've changed, because the Lily I knew would never want to be like them.'

'Excuse me?' her irritation was building, the telltale signs of her bright red cheeks. With her raw, uncontrolled magic tangible in the air, they both knew it wouldn't be long before she lost control. In the past, whenever she got into one of these moods, he'd back down almost immediately –he knew when to pick his battles. This time was different; he shifted nervously, but held his ground. 'And here I was, thinking that you wanted to apologize.' She said, in a tone that plainly said that she didn't give a damn.

'You've never sounded so much like Petunia in your _life_. You're _just_ like her; I guess you aren't so special after all.' He sneered, turning away from her.

'Don't. You. Dare. Walk away from me. You want to talk? Fine. Let’s talk. First things first; you _know_ what my home life is like. Just like how I know what yours is like.' He shifted uncomfortably once again, looking angry and indignant enough to interrupt her, but she never gave him the chance. 'You have _absolutely_ no right in saying that, in _judging_ me, _nothing_. I wasn't the one that started hanging around with the Slytherins that insult and torment everyone, your _friends_ –if you can call them that. At least James and Sirius know the meaning of loyalty. I wasn't the one who _changed_ , Severus. That was you.'

'James and Sirius, huh?' He sneered, a look of repulsion on his face. 'Of course you'd stoop that low. Is that why you haven't slept all night? Potter must be ecstatic that he finally got into your knickers –and by the sounds of it, he must’ve let Black have a go too. Everyone knows that they do everything together.' Lily's magic was snapping between them now, building up so much tension that sparks could be felt in the air. Neither acknowledged the smell of burning grass as Snape's own magic was rising in response to his fury.

'Maybe he'll finally move on, now that he's gotten what he wants.' Snape was so far gone into his fury that he didn't notice that she had gone completely still and deathly pale, nor did he notice the death glare and thinned lipped expression that even McGonagall would be proud of.

'I can't believe I've been wasting so much of my time with a filthy little mudblood slut like you, Evans.'

Snape didn't see anything, not until it was too late, and Lily’s fist was already connecting with his nose and jawline. They both heard a crack and Lily saw blood pouring down his face, most likely from a broken nose, and Snape cried out in pain, glaring at a fuming Lily.

'I dink you broke my fukein nose, Evans! You bitsh!'

'You fucking _bastard_. I've spent five years – _five years_ –defending our friendship _and_ you.' she raged. 'Do you know what it felt like, having to justify the actions of my _best friend_ to my other friends, when he's hanging around the Slytherins that terrorize people like me? When he hangs around people that have cursed me and called me names that I didn't even know could be used like that?

'Do you know what it felt like, when Remus avoided me during patrols for _weeks_ , because _you and your friends_ had cornered him in an empty hallway to hex the living shit out of them?! I defended you to them when I couldn't even defend you to myself. And now you do this. You just assume that everything is Potter's fault –and maybe some of the fights were, but that does not give you permission to treat _anyone_ , let alone your bloody best friend, the way you've treated me. You have no idea how to take responsibility for your actions, how to apologize and _mean it_ –you never have.

'I am not a slut, and I'm not a mudblood. And I don't think your friends are aware that you're a _halfblood_ , _Snivellus_. So shut the fuck up.' She stormed away leaving him gaping and still clutching his battered and broken nose.

OoOoO

Lily felt like shit. Emotionally, physically, and everything else that _could_ feel like shit, felt like shit. Lily had never been more glad that her house was empty. Walking in through the back door, she made her way upstairs.

_Crack!_

'Mistress Lily?' A squeaky voice called apprehensively from the living room.

'Who's there?' She responded, her voice cracking as the hot tears continued falling as she descended the stairs.

'Twitch is here, Mistress. Master James sent me.' The house elf responded, coming into view as Lily made her way to the living room.

'What does he want? I was just there… Why do you call me your Mistress? I'm not a Potter.' She sputtered, attempting to hide the tear tracks on her face and trying to distract the elf.

'Master James has told Twitch that whenever someone stays the night, they are Twitch's Masters. Twitch thinks it has something to do with Master Sirius and Master Remus, but Twitch cannot be sure. Oh yes! Master Potter saw that Mistress Lily forgot her pajama's and asked Twitch to return them to her.' the house elf said, handing Lily her shorts and t-shirt.

'Thank you Twitch.' Lily sniffled, 'tell James I said thanks.'

'Of course, Mistress Lily.' A skeptical look at Lily and a deep bow later, Twitch left the house with another _Crack!_

Lily went upstairs to her bedroom, wondering at just how much she had misunderstood James during the five years that he had vied for her attention. When she reached her room and saw the empty photograph frames on her nightstand which once held pictures of her and Severus, Lily forgot about James as the tears flowed freely once more. She curled up on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest, and wept freely over the loss of her best friend for the first time since the day of their Defense exam.

OoOoO

James had no idea how Lily would respond once he remembered that she'd technically be Twitch's Mistress after the party. He knew some muggleborns found the idea appalling, and seeing a house elf is different than knowing you’re her mistress.

He had only really meant to have that rule apply to Sirius, Peter and Remus; knowing that Twitch liked Lily only made things worse because Twitch had a way of choosing who all that rule applied to; it never seemed to apply to Peter.

James had been waiting anxiously for the house elf to return, and so spent his time nervously fiddling with anything in sight (mainly his hair) while hoping that Lily didn't take the news too poorly. He jumped upright when Twitch cracked into the kitchen.

'So? Is she okay? Did she take it well? Please tell me she doesn't hate me again.' He rushed, full of dread.

'Twitch thinks that Mistress Lily needs hot chocolate and someone comforting.' the house elf announced, moving to prepare the drink.

'Master Remus!' Twitch called, standing beside James with the steaming mug of hot chocolate in her hand. 'Could Master Remus please inform Master James where Mistress Lily's bedroom is?' Twitch said firmly, grabbing James' hand.

'Um, sure, I guess? Go up the stairs and it’s the first door on the left.' he said, looking puzzled. 'And if she's sleeping, don't get close enough for her to take your eye out.' he warned.

'Twitch, what the hell is going on? Is Lily alright? Why does she need -' _Crack!_

Letting go of Twitch's hands, James looked around him dazedly –he never was a fan of side-along apparition.

Once the world stopped spinning, James realized he stood in what he assumed was Lily's perfectly arranged living room, every last pillow being perfectly fluffed even if no one was around to enjoy it. Looking around, he noticed that the house seemed cold and empty. _No wonder Lils took to wandering Diagon Alley as an escape._

Twitch handed him the mug of hot chocolate and went back to the Manor while James went up and knocked on Lily’s bedroom door. 'Lily? Is everything okay?' he called. He thought he heard muffled swearing coming from the other side of the door, and knocked once more.

'What the bloody hell are you doing here, Potter? Go away.' Lily said, sounding quite muffled.

 _Sod it_ , he thought, opening the door apprehensively.

He knew from Remus that if Lily had been feeling like her normal self, she would've chucked a pillow at him for that, and the fact that she didn't had him instantly concerned.

'Lily? What's wrong?' he asked gently, cautiously approaching the bed. When he saw her curled up in a ball, attempting to hide her tear-stained face and puffy, red eyes, he no longer cared what was wrong. He just knew that he needed to fix it. For the second time in as many minutes, James did something that, if Lily had been feeling alright, she would've skinned him alive for; he sat on her bed, pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed her back as she started weeping onto his shoulder, her own arms wrapping around him.

 _Who the hell did this to her?_ He thought, the fury at them and the pain for her winding its way around his heart.

After a few minutes, her sobs slowed, leaving only sniffles. Embarrassed, Lily tried to pull away, complaining when James refused to let go. 'James, what are you doing? Let me go.'

'Not until you tell me what's wrong, Lils. What happened? Is it because of you being Twitch's Mistress?' He asked worriedly, looking uncomfortable.

'No, no it's not. Why would you even think that?' She asked, confusedly meeting his eyes. James had to bite his tongue not to gape at her –he didn't particularly want her to know just how nervous he was that he'd end up doing something to wreck their friendship, or just what affect her eyes had on him. 'Why would that bother me? I think it's amazing that you did that for your friends.' She sniffed.

'So it was nothing that I did? You're sure?' he asked hopefully. When she nodded, he felt relieved, but no less worried.

'Then what happened, Lils?' He murmured quietly.

'I don't know if I should tell you…' She admitted. When she saw his hurt expression before he could cool his features, she rushed to explain. 'It's not because it has anything to do with you, I swear. I just don't want you to get into any trouble because of it. You're going to be pissed off.'

While he considered her words, he studied her carefully. Even on his lap, she was still curled into a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible. Her face, which still showed traces of tears, was set in an expression meant to look nonchalant; a hopeless endeavor when it came to deceiving James, as he had been staring at that face for years, and knew when she was putting on a brave face. Her face broke his heart knowing that she was crumbling inside, and it took almost all of his resolve to whisper 'Please tell me. I want to help.'

Her face crumpled, and this time she rested her head on his chest as she told him about her fight with Severus. Her voice caught as she tried to leave out what Severus had said about her with James and Sirius, as well as when he called her a Mudblood again, but James caught on before she could get away with it. 'Tell me everything, Lily. Please?' he begged.

After hesitating, she reluctantly agreed. While she spoke, the tears started falling rapidly once more. Unable to bare looking him in the eye after she finished, she cried herself to sleep on his shoulder, while he rubbed her back and murmured comforting words.

OoOoO

While Lily slept fitfully, curled into his side in the afternoon light, James was still trying to curb his temper an hour late, and considering what she'd confessed about her confrontation, it was proving to be extremely difficult.

 _How dare he treat her that way. No one should be able to treat someone else like that, let alone someone as kind, gentle and caring. Who the bloody hell gave him the sodding right to be so possessive over her? He never deserved to call her a friend. She can make her own decisions –including that he's no longer worth her effort, and that she doesn't want to date me._ James caught himself staring almost wistfully at her while she slept –at the way her mouth was slightly upturned in the corners, the rosiness to her cheeks, her long, dark eyelashes resting against her skin, and what had to be the most adorable freckles he'd ever seen, spanning across her cheekbones and her nose. James tried to shake off the feelings of despair.

_As much as I wish she'd change her mind, Lily wouldn't be Lily if she wasn't stubborn. I'll take being friends over me ruining everything again. I need her in my life, and I'll just have to settle for whatever way she can stand me in hers. Maybe I'll try again after Hogwarts, but she needs a friend more than anything right now, and I don't know what I'd do if she went back to hurling insults, jinxes and punches at me._

That train of thought brought James back to thinking about how Lily had punched Snape in the nose. When Lily had confessed what Snape had said about her, and James and Sirius getting into her knickers, James' jaw had clenched so hard that it still ached, even hours later. If he'd have stopped to consider Snape hearing about the party, he'd have assumed that Snape would've made those comments to James and Sirius, like he usually did at school. He knew that he'd have taken the comments, cursed the slimy git, he was thinking bright purple hair, and have been on his way.

 _It's not the first time Snape's made a comment about us like that._ he thought, looking down at the beautiful redhead curled into his side once more. _But this is the first time that he's confronted_ her _about them, rather than me. And it had better be the bloody last._

Trying to distract himself from his feelings, he stroked the rose scented red hair that was sprawled over both his chest and the pillow, continuing to rub her back like he'd been doing for hours. He tried to shift his weight into a more comfortable position without waking the redhead, and managed to come close enough to lying down that he fell asleep, with thoughts of her, Snape and himself still swirling in his mind, gripping her closely to himself as if assuring himself that she was still there.

OoOoO

As Lily slowly woke up, she nestled further into the warmth emanating from underneath her. Something pulled her closer, and now the warmth was encompassing her once again, along with a smell of pine, soap, home and some sort of spice she couldn't quite place. Breathing the strange yet comforting smell in, she relaxed as a smile of drowsy contentment appeared on her face. As her sleepiness slowly abated, she confusedly looked around her. She looked at James, fast asleep underneath her, and noticed that the wonderful smell was in fact coming from him. With her head on his chest, she could hear his steady heartbeat and feel the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest as he slept on _._

She looked over James' chest at the clock on her nightstand and breathed a sigh of relief; it was only seven o'clock at night.

'James.' She whispered, prodding the boy in the chest as she herself sat up. 'James, wake up.' She poked him again and listened to him groaning as he tried to roll over. 'James.'

'Whaddya wannttt Padfoooott?' he grumbled, as he felt around for his discarded glasses, which had fallen to the floor. When he finally found them, he looked around confusedly, until he saw Lily stretching beside him on the bed. 'Lily?'

He looked at the clock and turned very pale. 'Shit, Lily, I'm so sorry. I can talk to your parents if it'll help.'

Lily gave a humorless laugh and shook her head. 'It's fine, James. You don't have to.'

'If it'll help, Lils, it's the least I can do.' When Lily gave another bitter laugh, James looked at her oddly; he'd never heard her laugh like that, and he found it sounded unnerving coming from her mouth. _Merlin, when she laughs like that she sounds like Sirius does when he talks about his family_.

'James, my parents won't be home for another hour at least. Petunia usually comes home pushing her curfew, so she's not usually walking in the door before eleven. We're fine.' She had her back to him, and so all he had to base his observations on her mood were centered on her tone. Surprised at hearing her voice being so hollow, he wasn't quite sure as to what to say. 'Are you hungry?'

'Starved.' She said sheepishly.

'Good. Me too.' While James wasn't particularly hungry, he knew her well enough to know that she'd refuse to let someone cook for her, even if he could hear her stomach growling. Smiling shyly when she realized he heard it, she briefly ran a brush through her disheveled hair before wrapping it up in a messy bun, securing it with a spare pen on her desk.

'What on earth are those?' He asked, staring at the various pens and pencils that littered the surface.

'I'll explain over food.' She chuckled.

Upon seeing her relaxed expression, he decided that not questioning had been the best tactic, and followed her down to the kitchen.

OoOoO


	9. Chapter 9

After James left, Lily did everything she could to try to clear her mind. She tried her usual methods, a hot cup of tea, a long shower, even curling up in bed with a favorite book, but nothing cleared the rattling thoughts parading around her head. By the time her parents came home, they found her curled up on her bed, the light still on and her open book clutched in her hands, while she was fast asleep and her dreams haunting her, leaving her feeling as lonely and confused as ever.

After the events of those two days, Lily found herself slowly settling into the idea of the companionship that seemed inevitable when it came to James Potter. That doesn't mean she felt any more at ease with the situation, especially after she'd sobbed all over his shoulder.

 _Merlin, it'll take me ages before I can even make eye contact,_ she groaned. _Knowing that you make whale sounds when you cry is ten times worse when someone else finds out_. Whenever her thoughts drifted to that day, Lily tried to ignore the painful recollections and confusing thoughts buzzing around her head. She resorted to furiously cleaning the house to put off her thoughts a little bit longer.

'Come on, Lils! It's quidditch; you have to come.' Marlene had walked over to the Evans' early on a Thursday morning near the end of July. It might've been because her friend had woken her up before nine that Lily had refused to let her in, resorting to them both arguing lightly with each other on Lily's front porch.

'Marls, I already have plans for today. Maybe next time?' She asked hopefully, going to close the door on the friend that was currently frowning impatiently.

'Lils, you and I both know that you haven't had plans since the party,' Lily tried to look upset at the comment, but Marlene responded before she could even voice her suspicions 'please, we both know it's true; all you do is clean and hide from everyone, especially James, because of what happened. An afternoon of quidditch would do you some good, you know…'

'Yes, I'm sure it would, but not an afternoon of quidditch at the _Potter's_ ' She said, finally walking away from the open door. Making her way to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee, she muttered curses directed at Marlene under her breath. Calling out to Marlene with her back still turned, 'Marlene, you should know by now that if you really want me to do something, don't piss me off and don't wake me up.'

'Merlin, Lils. You're grouchier than even Remus is in the mornings.' Lily jumped, effectively dropping the milk, spilling the entirety of its contents on the kitchen floor as Sirius emerged from the hallway behind Marlene, both making their way to the kitchen table. 'And just as clumsy as James too, apparently. Duly noted.' He said with a grin.

'Marlene! What the hell?' Lily demanded. She then realized that all she was wearing at the moment were short pajama shorts and a small white t-shirt and she wasn’t wearing a bra. She crossed her arms over her chest self-consciously.

Once Lily sat down and thought about what Marlene had said, she grudgingly admitted that it made sense. Sure, she loved the feeling of flying; sure, she hasn't flown in ages; and _fine_ , maybe she had been avoiding everyone after the ordeal with Snape, but in her opinion, it was just better that way. Easier, almost. Her fall-out with Snape at Hogwarts had been very different from the one at the park; it seemed less personal –the insults didn't hit quite as close to home, there were no tears visibly shed, and neither saw the other's pain. This time, punches had been thrown, insults were launched, and secrets exposed with brutal force while tears streamed down her face and pain shown brilliantly in his. In short, it was about as personal as it could get.

Lily knew that Marlene and Sirius had only come in the hopes of bringing her out of her despair, and knew that the only way to do such a thing was large amounts of chocolate and flying. They both swore that James did not reveal the details of her confrontation with the black-haired Slytherin, stating merely that it was her business to divulge to whomever she pleases, but that there was a high possibility of him punching Snape in the face the next time he saw him. After considering her options, Lily found that chocolate and Quidditch didn't sound all that bad, and went upstairs to get dressed.

OoOoO

Sirius panted as he raced through the air on the drill that James had them going through. Since their Hogwarts letters arrived last Tuesday, he'd been almost impossible to deal with once he'd known for sure that he was the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. Sirius looked over his shoulder and almost fell off his broom; usually when James ran them through this particular drill, Sirius was in the lead, with either Marlene or Frank following a distance away, and Remus shooting lazily around the pitch, just enjoying the freedom of flying.

Only today, Sirius was still in the lead, but _Lily Evans_ was almost passing him.

 _How is someone who is that good not on a team?_ He felt the air shift, and knew without looking over his shoulder that she was right beside him now. Smiling, he did something that he knew she would not be able to resist; he challenged her to a race. He heard a laugh carried over by the wind and he sped off in an attempt to stay ahead of the redhead.

OoOoO

Watching Sirius and Lily from the ground, James felt his excitement for the upcoming Quidditch season grow. He couldn't wait to see Lily’s face when she saw the new broom that he bought for her. He promised himself that he'd track down McGonagall as soon as he got to Hogwarts to give it to Lily anonymously so that she'd be able to play, guilt free. Knowing Lily, that was the only way she'd accept, and knowing McGonagall, who was desperate to keep the Quidditch Trophy in her office, she'd do it just to keep it out of Slughorn's chubby fingers.

James saw Remus land on the grass a few yards away, and he wandered over towards his friend.

'Oi, Moony, did you see Evans up there? She was beating Padfoot for a while there.'

'When isn't she beating up Padfoot?' He asked, smiling.

'No, you prat, I meant the race. Padfoot challenged her –she was winning for a while, but then she kind of went above the clouds and Padfoot raced ahead.'

'I bet you she still won though.' He chuckled, unsurprised at his friends' antics. Remus had always had a feeling that Lily and Sirius would get on pretty well. James has the peculiar talent of befriending people who are companionable with each other, and they also seem to have a knack for finding holes in the rules, even if Lily goes about it more subtly. Remus doubted even James knew just what all Lily has gotten away with. It definitely helps that Lily picks her battles well enough to differentiate between a worthy cause and a dubious one.

OoOoO

James was a tornado of mixed emotions as the summer neared to a close. While he knew that he'd miss his parents, he wanted to get back to school, to get back into the normal routine of Quidditch, pranking, classes and friends that only Hogwarts could offer.

With the Hogwarts Express leaving in two days, the Marauders had gone to Diagon Alley over the weekend with Mrs. Potter to get all of their supplies, though no one but Remus would actually start packing prior to the morning of September first; James and Sirius resorted to just empty the drawers of their wardrobes, pile the clothes into their trunks, and hope for the best. Too many times, Remus would find something that was forgotten, like James’ invisibility cloak and would wordlessly hold it out until one of the others noticed it, a full smirk on his face broadened by the ever-accompanying 'Piss off, Moony'.

Once all six of them arrived at the Platform, however, James felt himself relaxing around his friends as they found ways to amuse themselves while waiting for everyone else to arrive.

By the time Lily arrived, Sirius was quite offended by the antlers on his head, and Remus was almost falling over himself laughing with a tail between his legs and a bright red nose.

'James, what did you do?' Lily approached, trying to hide a smile.

'Oi, _Prefect Evans_! That prat over there gave me antlers! Stick him in a month's worth of detention!' Sirius howled, pointing an accusing finger at his best friend and continuing his hopping.

'Sorry, Sirius, we aren't officially at school. I can't give out detentions until _after_ the feast.' She said with a subtle wink at the boys. 'I can, however, charm them back.'

While she did as promised, Marlene joined them. She looked around curiously between Sirius’ glaring face and the innocent grins worn by the others until the train gave its warning whistle to embark and all of the Marauders hugged Mrs. Potter goodbye. Lily called out to Alice and, telling them all that she'd find them after the Prefect's meeting. Lily and Remus stowed their trunks were stowed in the usual compartment and waved goodbye to the other Marauders, James silently marvelled at the difference a summer could make.

OoOoO

Lily found that the Prefect’s wasn't as enjoyable as it had been last year, mainly due to the fact that she could feel Severus glaring at her throughout the entire ordeal. She shivered as she avoided his eyes and tried to concentrate on the Head Boy and Girl's speech.

By the time Lily and Remus had returned to their compartment and rejoined their friends, Lily was feeling absolutely exhausted. She leaned up with her back pressed against the window, surveying her friends’ humorous antics as her eyes drooped sleepily. She shivered, and shifted in her seat before she found a warm spot, and pressed her entire body into the seat. As she fell asleep, she smelt something instantly comforting, if not immediately familiar. The smell of pine, soap, and a combination of spices had her clinging to it as she slouched. Letting all the tension of the summer melt out of her with a sigh of contentment.

OoOoO

James had no idea how long the redhead had been asleep curled into his side, but the addictive smell of roses was rapidly driving him insane. Alice, Frank and Peter made no comment, though he could see the blonde's eyes twinkle, rather like Professor Dumbledore, while Remus and Dorcas looked on somewhat contemplatively. By contrast, Marlene and Sirius just smirked at him every chance they could get. Sometimes it surprised him how alike Lily’s and his friends were, though he cursed the day that a female counterpart to Sirius started sassing everyone.

As the Marauders finished the final details for the Welcoming Prank in whispered conversations, James felt Lily shift lightly in her sleep. He looked down with a small smile when he saw that the girl had wrapped her arms around his torso. Curling herself into a ball at his side, her head resting half on her arms and half on his left thigh. He resisted chuckling as she muttered something about waffles and spiders not being a very good mix.

 _It seems like she's a sleep talker_. He thought tenderly. In doing so, he missed the looks that passed between his friends, and was soon asleep himself.

OoOoO

By the end of the train ride, Marlene felt very frustrated with her best friend, at what she was missing out on by not admitting to her budding feelings for James. Sitting by and watching James look adoringly at Lily had almost killed Marlene, who usually found herself more likely to mimic gagging gestures in similar cases. She knew that Lily only spoke in her sleep if she was feeling extremely relaxed and comfortable, and she also knew that it was probably the first time she had done so the entire summer.

_And of course she does it in the lap of James bloody Potter_. Marlene would have almost pitied their friends for their naivety, thinking they could be 'just friends', if the whole thing didn’t want to strangle both of them. If Lily didn’t actually fancy the boy yet –she knew that James would be just as bad, probably trying to convince himself that he would never be worth Lily's affections, that he'd probably try to keep being friends no matter how much they wanted to snog the other.

As the lights slowly gained in their brightness, the group of Gryffindors realized that they must be approaching Hogwarts soon. Slipping on her robes, Marlene watched curiously as James woke up Lily. Fully expecting a jinxing of some sort, Marlene was surprised when Lily just blushed sheepishly and stretched, much to James’ obvious discomfort. She averted her eyes to keep from laughing as she saw Alice and Dorcas doing the same, both obviously expecting the same reaction as Marlene herself.

As the group boarded one of the carriages, the nine Gryffindors all sported rather contagious grins at returning once again. No matter what their home lives were like, they all considered Hogwarts to be home, and were all delighted that it was welcoming them back once more.


	10. Chapter 10

James was ecstatic. Encircled by his friends, he looked around the Great Hall with complete admiration for his surroundings. After the sorting was completed, the Marauders gave everyone just barely enough time to fill their plates before their prank began. With a wink to the others, James waved his wand under the table and waited.

At first, nothing happened. Everyone continued gossiping and catching up with old friends, taking hesitant bites of their food as they wondered what the Marauders had planned for this year's Welcoming Prank. Last year, the food had been enchanted so that as the students started eating, the platters and plates of food would explode in everyone's faces. This year, it seemed that the Marauders keptg the students on their toes and did something different. The students had just started to relax when they heard a squeaky voice.

'I thought I saw a putty cat! I did! I did saw a putty cat!' The students glanced around the great hall, perplexed at the loud, high pitched voice that echoed from all around them, and yet none had an idea where it originated from.

'The itty widdle putty cat. He come to pway with me! Come pway wiff me putty cat! We pway tag now, Putty cat!' A yellow bird the size of a house cat could now be seen standing just in front of the teacher's table and was accompanied by a large, black and white cat with a pink nose. The bird proceeded to conjure a hammer out of nowhere, and struck the cat in the nose, before the hammer once again disappeared.

'Wook! Putty cat is it!' with that, the yellow bird hurried away from the cat, just as a large blush of anger crossed over the cat’s rather squashed face.

Screams and laughter soon ran throughout the hall, as the bird tried to fly. It could barely do more than flutter its wings and hop from table to table, splattering food on nearby students. The laughter spread until it reached ear-splitting levels, only to cease when the bird caused a plate of mashed potatoes to land squarely on the head of Lily Evans. The hall fell silent, everyone muffling their gasps as they saw the redheaded girl stand and make her way over to the trembling group of Marauders, as both cat and bird slowly began to fade away.

'POTTER!' Lily bellowed, approaching the horrified boy.

'Hi, um, Lily, look, I'm really sorry. That wasn't supposed to happen, I swear – don't jinx me!' He finished, hiding his face behind his hands. The moment he peeked, however, he let forth a squeal and a curse.

'Evans, DON'T YOU BLOODY DARE -ARGH! EVANS!' Gravy slipped down the brunet’s head and pooled in his eyes, ears, and mouth.

The entire hall expectantly held their breath, still waiting for Lily to start yelling, or, even better, start jinxing. They were sorely disappointed, however, when she did neither of those things. All that Lily Evans was able to do was desperately try and fail to contain her laughter. As her guffaws of laughter rang throughout the hall, James picked up a platter of mashed potatoes and approached her, wiping the gravy out of his eyes with a shake of his head. Lily shook her head slowly, warning James with his eyes to put the bowl down. Unfortunately, James was never the best behaved, and threw the mashed potatoes at Lily’s face.

With a shriek that sounded more animal than human, Lily launched herself at table, and then proceeded to toss the gathered food at James while he tried shielding himself with the empty platter.

'FOOD FIGHT!' bellowed Sirius, and immediately grabbed Moony from the back of the head and dunked his friend's face into his own plate of food.

OoOoO

McGonagall was furious. Her own students did this. _Gryffindors_ were responsible for completely trashing the Great Hall, and it was only the first night back. Not only that, but it wasn't just the Marauders that were to blame – _Lily Evans_ had not only helped, but had actively _participated_. In all of her days, Minerva McGonagall never expected that Evans, a Prefect with a blazing temper and the ability to hold one of the greatest grudges she had ever seen against someone had helped that group of boys initiate a food fight.

Once Dumbledore waved his wand and all of the food disappeared, everyone settled pretty quickly. The Headmaster proceeded with the beginning of term announcements, including describing all of that years' forbidden objects, all of which McGonagall suspected to be distributed between four Gryffindor boys' trunks. Dumbledore hastily dismissed them all to their common rooms, promising that an assortment of sandwiches would be provided. While the rest of the school dispersed McGonagall had marched herself down to the nine Gryffindor students who had been by far the most enthusiastic in the battle.

Grabbing James and Sirius by the ears, she begun to drag them to her office, their cries of pain echoing in the hall behind her.

OoOoO

'We only got off that easy because Dumbledore intervened. I mean, he was having as much fun as the rest of us; I could've sworn I saw him dump some carrots on McGonagall.' Remus laughed as the Gryffindors trekked up to their common room, smiling despite the docked thirty points and the two weeks of detention that had been deemed necessary punishment.

'That might've been why McGonagall was so wound up then.' Smiled Dorcas, as she happily skipped on beside them.

'She didn't have to tug so hard on my ears though.' grumbled a pouting Sirius, rubbing his still swollen earlobe.

'Sirius, that's only because the last time she had to resort to dragging you by the ears, she didn't hold on hard enough and you broke away and decided to play hide-and-seek with our Head of House!' laughed Marlene.

'OiI did no such thing! But I totally won.'

'Actually, you didn't. She was waiting for you inside the kitchens, remember?' Peter said.

'And everyone could hear her yelling seven floors up.' Remus shuddered in remembrance.

Nearing the dormitory, James redirected the conversation

'You know what, I'm just glad I didn't get hexed.' added James, glancing at Lily questioningly.

'And I'm just glad you gave me an excuse to dump gravy all over you. Merlin, I've been waiting for a chance at that since third year.' Lily exclaimed, a dazzling grin covering her face as she pushed open the portrait to the Fat Lady.

They were greeted with cheers as they entered the common room, causing each and every one of them to smile affectionately towards their house and its occupants. It was good to be home.


	11. Chapter 11

_No one could doubt that James Potter was a Gryffindor. Known for his chivalry, bravery and perseverance, James was proud to be a Gryffindor, just like his father. James was also proud to be a Gryffindor because that meant he shared some qualities found in Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. As an only child, he grew up quite lonely and was amazed that he could love so many people at once, and have the feeling be mutual. He was thankful that he could depend his life upon them, and he knew that they could do the same in return._

_He set out to make people blush, causing many rumours to be spread around Hogwarts after being heard calling out pick up lines to Remus; had been seen rubbing his head against Sirius', causing both heads of hair to grow increasingly full of static; and had been heard complimenting Peter on his appearance almost daily near the end of seventh year. He did all of this because he felt sure that his friends deserved someone to show their appreciation for the fact that they existed and that they put up with him and that they deserve to know that he loves them so, so, so much._

_He was always an amazing father and father figure –as many people had classified his best mate as a child–and always knew the best tactic to get the tears to cease, unless it came to women, a topic of which he was absolutely worthless at (note: see Remus). He secretly knew all the lyrics to many muggle songs, even if his absolute favourite was Don't Go Breaking My Heart, and the Marauders would constantly hum it while cursing him for days after he'd belt it out in their dormitory, which he often did every weekend._

_He wanted to make people laugh, even if they were in a time of war; even if he was constantly battling to give his wife the same level of respect that he himself had always possessed. He fought for the world he wanted his son to grow up in. He fought for equality and for justice. He fought against prejudices and racism, against judgmental people and their chauvinistic opinions. James Potter was a Gryffindor and he fought all the way to the end._

OoOoO

As always, the Great Hall that morning was a mass of laughter, shouting, eating and conversation. In other words, it was complete chaos. There was a level of organisation to its chaos however, and that came in the form of the High Table, and all of the professors that it sat. This only made the challenge more daring to the Marauders, the excitement in executing a prank under the eyes of McGonagall that much more appealing.

If one were to ever entre the sixth year gryffindor boys' dormitory, they would not likely know where to look first. There would be photos strewn up over the walls of course, and around every bed but one featured pictures of smiling families –at least not until third year where the wall in between two beds starting featuring family pictures that featured not one, but two smiling boys.

A handwritten letter is hung on the wall in honour of being the messiest, most illegible thing that any of the boys have ever seen. Written during the summer after fourth year by a werewolf, it was marked with a big red T for troll after the receiver tried to get the other members of their dormitory to decipher it, all of them failing spectacularly. There are multiple sheets pinned up across the many walls so that the boys can keep tabs on their many bets, aside from one that was hung up in the common room, betting on whether McGonagall and Dumbledore would get together or not. They have one sheet they track points on, points which are given for making good puns. One boy in particular, the werewolf with messy writing, features a rather impressive lead over the other three, the boy with glasses making a determined attempt in catching up, resolute to make it out of second place, a position in which he had remained since third year; and finally, the most conspicuous feature hung up on their walls happened to cover up the entirety on a wall, deemed as the Prank Wall. Notes, ideas and diagrams have been hastily hung up over the years, only to be removed once they have been executed, or merely pushed aside when an idea for a large and elaborate prank takes form, the shaggy haired boy and the one with glasses becoming almost OCD in their meticulous planning. Featuring magical threads linking parchment, lists of objects and people and the actions that would be required surrounding the entire thing, the boys plan out every last intimate detail to perfection before the prank is deemed ready. The only thing that has kept teachers from discovering their ideas happened to be a rather brilliant idea on the werewolf boy's part, not that that was unexpected, in which they used a spell so that only the members of the dormitory could see the ideas. When the four boys dubbed as the Marauders wanted to prank the fifth member of their dorm –which they did so carefully, as his retaliation was usually worse than the original prank –they would keep it under the bespectacled boy's bed, hidden under an invisibility cloak.

If anyone were to find a way around the spell at this very moment, they would see a meticulously planed –at least considering they did so from nine at night to four in the morning the previous night –prank, that would indeed be happening during breakfast.

OoOoO

As the four Marauders strolled into the Great Hall, they conjured mildly innocent expressions on their faces that were able to fool all but one person.

'What are you four up to this morning? Oh wait, I suppose I should ask first; is it safe to eat the food, or will it explode all over me?' Inquired the redhead as the boys sat down beside her. She took a sip of her coffee smirking slightly. The boys had once tried charming the coffee in her hands, but with her addiction to the caffeine, not only had she been able to identify the danger in it, but she also dumped it on the boys in retaliation; they made sure to never again attempt to prank the source of the fiery redhead's caffeine. She quirked an eyebrow when the boys clamped their mouths shut. 'No? I suppose you lot have no idea what I'm on about, right?' She stared fixedly at the bespectacled boy, waiting for him to squirm under her gaze. Knowing that her friends were always running late in the morning, he feared that he would not be saved from the redhead's temper if he continued to refuse to answer her.

'Lily, you're unbelievable, you know that?' Inquired Sirius Black, shaking his hair out of his eyes while meeting her gaze, both teenagers smiling slightly when they heard James' small sigh of relief. 'Fine. Don't touch the maple syrup, jam, eggs or pumpkin juice and you'll be fine.' He assured her, ticking off the items on his fingers with a smug smile, innocent expression long forgotten.

Lily scoffed and turned to Remus. She looked at him pointedly, as his own expression turned from confusion to amusement. 'She wouldn't have bothered regardless. It's amazing what I subconsciously come up with at three in the morning.' He chuckled to himself. At his friends questioning glances, Remus elaborated, 'Lily isn't a big breakfast fan.' When the other Marauders started looking at him incredulously, which is understandable considering what all she made at the Potter's on the morning after the party, he found himself elaborating once again, 'Eating, I mean. It’s too early for her to eat much without getting an upset stomach. She likes to cook breakfast, but she'd much rather grab an apple, a muffin, a granola bar or some other odd thing like that. Right Lils?' At her nod, Remus smirked slightly to himself while assembling his own breakfast, compromising of toast with butter, bacon, oatmeal and an apple. Secretly, Lily was rather peeved that he continued eating so little and resolved to go all force feeding his arse once again if she had to.

'What kind of person doesn't like breakfast?' Peter demanded incredulously, turning to Lily as he did so. James, who was siting beside her, started poking her in the side and on her cheek.

As she smacked his hand away, glaring halfheartedly as she did so, James confirmed his own suspicions, 'Nope. She's definitely human, though she's a bloody odd one.'

'Hey!' Lily responded, smacking him on the shoulder. Any further protests were impeded by the arrival of the post, and so James found himself treating the Ministry owl after it drooped the newspaper, even though it was left to be dunked into his cereal. As James read over the paper, his smile faded quickly. When he finally pushed the paper away in disgust, his was not the only grim face in the Great Hall that morning. The students were left subdued and shocked, panicked and terrified. Those emotions were a tangible presence that morning, as news of multiple Death Eater attacks was brought to the students attention. Many just skipped right down to the victims list, and there were more than one instance where friends could be seen comforting or leading the other out of the Great Hall, their sobs echoing in the Entrance Hall as they lost control. Even some Slytherins could be seen exiting, only their faces were masks of indifference –James would've believed their performance, if only his father wasn't an auror, and therefore hadn't been trying to hide such emotions around the boy for years.

Coming back to his senses, he looked around Gryffindor table to find many morose faces. Lily herself looked on the verge of hysterics, though he wasn't sure which emotion would win out over the others; fury, fear or panic. Even the other Marauders seemed depressed, and so, with rather forced enthusiasm, James said, 'Looks like we picked a good morning for this then.' At the nods of his fellow Marauders and the inquisitive glances coming from Lily, James waved his wand one final time and launched the prank.

BOOM!

After the initial burst of smoke had cleared, James and the others looked around the chaotic Great Hall with proud smiles on their faces. It seemed that anyone who had eaten maple syrup, jam, eggs or pumpkin juice, which apparently happened to be almost the entire school population, was turned unknowingly into their undiscovered animagus forms.

As rabbits, giraffes, zebras, horses, hippopotamus', any other animal known to mankind, as well as various forms of dogs and cats, rampaged around the Great Hall, the Marauders were rolling off of their benches in mirth. Once they calmed down enough, they looked to the High Table were a feline McGonagall and an elephant –presumed to be Flitwick - tried to regain order. Of course, as soon as the elephant saw a mouse, the chaos was only exemplified by its screeching and attempt at fleeing. They were set off again at the sight of it all, especially when a rather flamboyant peacock –presumed to be Dumbledore –came strutting over to the boys and started pecking at their heads with bright, twinkling blue eyes.

As Lily lost herself in her own hysterics, she hollered, 'Oi Potter!' After waiting for him to make eye contact, she elaborated, 'Sod it!' As she stuffed a bite of eggs into her mouth, James watched on with awed amusement. That soon turned into surprise and fear, as she turned into a rather magnificent lioness. The lioness bore no remarkable distinct markings, aside from a few brown specs spanning across her snout (which James believed were freckles), brilliant green feline eyes and a reddish tinge to her fur, rather than a brown one. _Oh Merlin_. He swore, sharing looks of equal alarm and panic with the Marauders. _She has_ claws _now_.

'James! You gave Lily _claws_?! Do you have a death wish?' Demanded Remus, fear and amusement combining on his face.

Sirius himself had already eaten some eggs –though Lily hadn't actually seen him do so –and so Padfoot proceeded to tackle James, Peter and Remus, attacking their faces with his tongue while he repeatedly whacked the others with his wagging tail. He had just turned towards the lioness and begun to circle her, trying to entice her into a game. His excitement suddenly disappeared, and he tensed when a small house-cat strode regal and purposeful towards them. With a hiss and a swish of her tail, the feline-McGonagall led the four boys towards her office. As they were just about to leave the Great Hall, they cast one last wistful look around and could not contain their amusement to see the peacock spread its feathers and began dancing its way across the High Table, rather enjoying himself spectacularly _._

OoOoO

The potions wore off by three o'clock that day, as soon as classes would've ended had it been a normal Wednesday. There was more thought behind the timeline than just that, however; Gryffindor tryouts were at four that evening, and the Captain needed time to prepare everything with his team beforehand. Frankly, as James walked down towards the Quidditch Pitch, his ears still ringing from the yelling of a furious McGonagall –who had forced them to remain with her in her office until the effects of the prank wore off –he counted his blessings that she had not revoked his captaincy, even if they lost Gryffindor 20 house points.

Once everything was set up, James talked things over with his team while he waited for everyone to show. He knew that by scheduling tryouts in the middle of the second week back was rather risky –as the entire student body was steel reeling from the end of the summer and having to work extra hard in accomplishing their workloads –but he felt in doing so that those who did show up would be more inclined to take things more seriously. Once it was five past four, James decided to get things started, as he had no inclination of encouraging tardiness. Spotting bright red hair that kept on getting played with, he could see Lily's nervousness from where he stood on the Pitch. He also noticed that Marlene had leant her own broom to her feisty friend for the tryouts and he wondered just how much convincing it had required for Evans to accept the offer –James thought it would've required Marlene to sell her soul, especially considering the stubbornness that flowed in the ginger's blood.

With a silently-cast _Sonorous Charm_ , James began, 'Alright you lot, gather round! I don't want anyone on the team if they aren't serious about wanting to be there. _If you aren't dedicated, you will not last long._ I plan on starting on building up reserves this year and they will be required to attend all practices and games. I will warn you now; practices will be held three nights a week, from four until eight and on Saturdays, from one to six. Anyone who is unwilling to make their attendance to practices their priority –should they be reserves or starting –will not be around for long, so I suggest you leave now.' When a third of the crowd had disgruntledly wandered off towards the castle, leaving little over a dozen shifting worriedly, James was quick to reassure them. 'Now that we know who all is serious, practices will be held two nights a week, for three hours each, on top of a session whenever possible on Saturdays.' He grinned at the relieved expressions, especially the one gracing Lily Evans' face. He winked at her mischievously before continuing, 'I was serious in my hope to build up some reserves this year, even though we currently only need a Seeker and a Beater. We'll do tryouts for one position at a time, So; Keepers over there with Longbottom; Beaters over there with Black; Chasers over here with McKinnon; and Seekers with Meadowes.' As they dispersed, James grabbed Lily by the arm, keeping her in place. 'Not so fast, you. Try out with the Seekers first, and then move onto the Beaters. I'm almost positive which position you'll play, but I need to be certain.'

'Aye aye, Captain.' With a smirk, she sauntered over to Dorcas, hips swaying with the wind. _And she claims she doesn't saunter. As if._

OoOoO

James was confused. Unused to second-guessing himself, he wondered whether or not he'd made the right decision in his initial plans in regards to Lily's placement on the team.

She had flown exquisitely during her Seeker tryouts, diving and racing beautifully, even while using a slower broom. She had out-flown every hopeful for the position, even if she had difficulty in spotting the snitch at times. Six times out of ten, she got the snitch before her opponent, regardless that they had most often spotted it first. It wasn't until James saw her tryout as Beater that he was reassured; she was magnificent.

As he watched her and Sirius run through a real game situation, their task was to protect their "seeker" (who was really just Frank on a broom in the air) from bludgers so that he would be free to catch the snitch. Starting off slowly, James was still doubting his instincts over his idea of her ideal placement. As James watched Sirius and Lily circle Frank as time went on, he noticed that they soon found a rhythm that worked for each other. As they continued with the drill, their movements mirrored the others almost perfectly. He had Marlene and Dorcas trying to shoot the bludgers towards the trio as Lily and Sirius continued circling Frank. As they reacted and moved into a defensive position, they began circling the supposed seeker while twirling their bats with narrowed eyes. As a bludger aimed at Frank approached, James watched as Sirius and Lily decided who'd take it nonverbally. With a mere glance from the redhead, Sirius backed off and watched as Lily took the lead, racing over to position herself to be directly in line with the bludger, preventing it from reaching Frank whether she succeeded in batting it away or not. _She's already got good instincts for a beater and everyone knows she has amazing reflexes. Here's to hoping she's got the strength to go with it._ James watched with baited breath as Lily wound up and took a swing at the bludger. He couldn't help the yelp of glee that escaped as she launched the bludger right back at Marlene, at such a speed that Marlene had to dive to escape its trajectory, though he did try to smother it. Alice, Peter and Remus, who had all been watching the entire tryouts in the stands to show their support of their friends, did not make any such attempt in smothering their own laughter, more so at James' expense than at Lily's good aim.

Nearing the end of her tryouts, James could not even begin to explain the level of astonishment he felt at their synchronization, resorting to seemingly start vibrating on the ground in his excitement. He was pleased to see that maybe, just maybe, his practices over the summer had helped more than he thought, particularly in a building friendship between Evans and Padfoot. With one final, relived smile, James adopted his Captain Face and called everyone down with a blow of his whistle.

'Alright, you lot.' He said sternly as a small crowd gathered before him, shifting nervously. He continued, this time with a bright smile covering his face, 'That was brilliant. As a team, we want to thank each and every one of you who put in the effort to be here today. The names should be posted in the common room after dinnertime tonight with both the starting and the reserves. Come talk to me if anyone has any questions about the decisions, but I'd advise against bugging; if you want my help or my advise, do not get on my nerves. Now I suggest everyone head to the showers, because every one of you stink!'

With a few chuckles dispersed between the students, they all made their way over to the showers and then back up to the castle for the hot supper that awaited them.


	12. Chapter 12

Lily descended the stairs that morning feeling worried and excited all at once. The team waited overnight before posting the list because of needing to figure out the reserve team. Her nerves disappeared as her smile made itself known, at least once she saw the notice for the team, drawing her attention across the common room as soon as her feet touched the floor.

** Starting **

_Keeper: Frank Longbottom_

_Chaser: James Potter (C)_

_Chaser: Marlene McKinnon_

_Chaser: Dorcas Meadowes_

_Beater: Sirius Black_

_Beater: Lily Evans_

_Seeker: Emily Sanders_

** Reserves **

_Keeper: Kingsley Shacklebolt_

_Chaser: Natalie Thompson_

_Chaser: Danielle Avers_

_Chaser: Terry Kent_

_Beater: Shaun Cazzion_

_Beater: Joseph Lajoy_

_Seeker: Nadine Boote_

OoOoO

Lily’s bright grin was still present on her face as she made her way to breakfast that morning. She wedged herself between Marlene and Dorcas and nudged them both with her elbows.

'You both are two of the biggest prats I've ever met,' she declared with a fake pout. 'couldn't have told me last night, oh no! You all just _had_ to make me wait?'

'Shut up, Evans. Do you want to be bumped down to Reserves?' Marlene grinned.

'You wouldn't dare!' grinned Lily.

'Wouldn't dare to what?' Remus asked as he sat himself across from the redhead. James and Sirius soon flanked him and Lily felt the bench shift as Marlene and Sirius started kicking each other violently under the table. She rolled her eyes in amusement and brought her mug of coffee to her mouth, laughing as Sirius muffled his swearing. He winced and crossed his legs on the bench, glaring at a smirking Marlene.

'Black, hopefully detention tonight will teach you how to use a chair properly.' McGonagall called as she made her way up to her seat. In his surprise, Sirius fell off the bench and landed on the cold, hard, stone.

'We'll see, won't we?' Sirius called, trying to regain some semblance of dignity. Marlene snorted in a self-satisfied fashion while James and Remus started sniggering.

'Aw, did pwoor Padfwoot get into twouble again?' Alice snorted, as she and Frank made their way over and sat down with the group.

'Shut it, Griffiths, or Sirius will get _his_ boyfriend to make _your_ boyfriend run laps all practice.' Remus said, much to the indignation of James, Sirius and Frank.

'Why do you lot always drag me into everything?' Frank demanded. 'At least I have a real, flesh-and-blood girlfriend. _You know, instead of a pillow_.' Frank smiled as James howled indignantly, dumping his eggs in his friend's lap as retaliation.

'Potter, detention tonight.' McGonagall called from the front of the Hall, sipping her tea with a raised eyebrow.

'Sounds good to me!' James replied, sharing a grin with Sirius.

'Separate detentions, boys. We haven't fallen for that since May of third year.' she returned to her discussion with Professor Slughorn, ignoring the cries of outrage and denial of the two boys, as well as the ringing laughter of those around them. It seemed that neither they nor the professors had forgotten the detention when they had the boys clean the Prefects bathroom, only to have them smuggle a charmed squid with extra sticky-ink that wouldn’t come off of the victim for weeks into the plumbing. The boys were setting the scene for a spectacular prank on the Slytherins. Its failure was complete when the charms placed on the squid caused it to grow, and the boys ended up being covered in ink after their efforts. The detentions had lasted into the next school year, but the Marauders found it was well worth it to see Snape covered in the muck –and James would go on saying for years that he never did get the ink all out of his hair, as he probably had only washed it three times since the incident. Hagrid ended up taking the squid and putting it in the lake, and the Marauders made it a point to visit every spring.

As the post arrived that morning, Lily was surprised to see her own owl, Hooters, circling above.

As she relieved him of the letter, she opened it and began reading, automatically turning out the teasing of Marlene.

‘Seriously, Lils, who names an owl Hooters?'

Lily mumbled her response of the past year and a half-heartedly while reading 'I was eleven, and he kept waking me up during the night. I retaliated a little, okay? Sue me.'

'I'll see you guys in class, I forgot something in the dorms.' The redhead hurried away, to the great confusion of those left behind.

'What was that all about?' asked James curiously, turning to Marlene. Surprisingly, it was Remus who answered.

'That looked like Petunia's writing. She'll need time.' Remus sighed, returning to his breakfast. James turned back to the closed doors of the Great Hall, a weight suddenly settling into his stomach.

OoOoO

Lily growled as she climbed up the staircases to the seventh-floor corridor, her sister's words repeating themselves over and over in her mind. She marched to and fro in front of the tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet. When the door appeared before opening it to reveal a training room. Once the familiar Auror Training Dummies appeared, she growled and took a fighting stance.

' _Alarte Ascendare!'_ She snarled, watching the dummy opposite her sky-rocket into the air. ' _Bombarda_!' It exploded in midair, and she whirled around to face the others as more appeared. Switching to nonverbal spells, she attacked ferociously, wand waving and hair flying. Lily kept up a steady stream of attacks and defenses, until a burning pile of ashes was all that remained. She took a deep breath as the room conjured more and went through the adjacent room to shower off the sweat, grime and tears.

OoOoO

James was near frantic by the time Lily appeared for Charms class. Relaxing slightly, James tried to catch her eye, but she stared straight ahead. He had spent his entire first period spare trying to find her on the map after she left breakfast and had been agitated since he realized that not only was she nowhere to be found, but that she also was missing her Arithmancy class. He had no idea how she had been able to stay hidden from the map.

When Charms finally let out, the elusive redhead had already disappeared by the time James reached the hallway. He only hoped that Sirius would be able to figure out where she had disappeared to once again.

OoOoO

Sirius Black is an amazing chess player. Given his family, it is rather unsurprising that Sirius always had to plan every action, every stand he made, well in advance. He learnt how to pick his battles and how to keep the brunt of the punishments off of his brother

He noticed things well before others, though he never used it to his advantage unless he had no other option. He wasn't a Slytherin, after all. The way his mind worked showed rather brilliantly when it came to any kind of strategy, particularly in quidditch and chess. Many people would challenge Remus in the common room to chess games, hoping to be able to brag of bettering an infamous Marauder, not knowing that Remus had only ever beaten Sirius three times in twice as many years, Peter two, and James only once.

In addition to the strategic way his mind worked, Sirius possessed the ability to lie rather spectacularly. A child of the Black family, just like any other Pureblooded Family, is to be taught the basics of Occlumency, to be able to protect their mind, and the family’s secrets. Before Sirius had even started Hogwarts, he knew multiple hexes and curses, and a general knowledge on other Dark subjects, all of which were heavily protected in his mind. He had kept up with Occlumency long after his father had deemed him decent enough in the art.

While his Occlumency had no bearing on his abilities to lie in regards to facial expressions, years of taking the blame for his brother's accidental magic or poor behaviour did –though pranking certainly helped as well.

It was only after coming to Hogwarts that Sirius felt guilty about lying, and even then, only when it was directed towards someone he cared about. But he knew that if James went after Lily, Sirius would be picking up the remaining pieces of his best friend trailing all over the castle thanks to some particular powerful jinxes the Charms Queen had under her belt.

He had been sitting on the windowsill beside the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy for over half an hour until Lily finally emerged from wherever she had managed to disappear to, freshly showered once again and more than a little surprised at seeing him there.

'Black, what are you doing here?' she demanded, glancing around the corridor nervously.

'Back to Black, are we Evans? Shame.' Sirius countered, still trying to get a feel as to the temperament, even though his optimism diminished greatly by her coldness.

'Sorry, Sirius.' she amended, looking sheepish. 'Rough morning, I guess. What’re you doing here?' She asked warily.

‘Family drama and I go way back. I’m here if you want to talk you know.' He said, sitting back down on the windowsill with a pointed look towards her. He took great pains to look beyond the façade that she usually put on and was surprised to see hurt, betrayal and sadness.

What she saw must've convinced her as to his own determination, as she muttered an agreement, only wishing to do it somewhere less public. When he stood up and indicated for her to lead the way, he was utterly confused when she started pacing three times, before a door appeared before them. Lily chuckled slightly at the baffled look on her friend's face as she led him inside what she knew to be the Room of Requirement.

OoOoO

'Bloody hell.' Sirius muttered in amazement as he walked into the room that had not been there before, and one that greatly resembled the Gryffindor common room, though with only two squashy armchairs facing a roaring fireplace. 'Wha –wha –what is this place?'

'The Room of Requirement, also known as The Come and Go room,' she said, 'Pace three times in front of the tapestry out there, thinking clearly about what you need, and it'll appear. I once told Dumbledore that there was a room full of chamber pots here two years ago, the man was practically hopping with an overfull bladder, and he caught up to me beaming over how it was the best restroom in the entire castle. He was disappointed that he hadn't been able to find it again, but he probably hadn't been thinking clearly enough for it to work for him.'

'How have I never heard of it before?' He asked wondrously.

'I found it in Third Year.'

'But _how_?!'

'Misa,' She said simply, attempting to hide a smile as Sirius' eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

' _Misa the Head House Elf_? The one who runs the kitchens? B-b-but how!? She hates everyone!'

'No, she just doesn't trust students very much. Especially if those students happen to be Marauders.' He looked at the girl who had managed to fly under everyone's radars –everyone being everyone aside from James, who had always been infatuated with some aspect of the studious and quiet redhead in their classes that had left the Marauders all baffled – with confusion and amazement, as she had been able to charm the Head House Elf, when even the Marauders couldn’t.

Though Misa was rather fond of the Marauders, she was more wary about some requests they made. Seeing as they had, after all, been known to include multiple additions to the students' food, they didn't blame her.

Sirius saw Lily smirk secretively, and he recognized the Marauder spirit concealed well underneath the surface. Sirius was bemused by James' intuitiveness for having seen it from the beginning.

Once he was able to focus again, Sirius warily asked Lily about why she'd been hiding all day. Had he not been looking for it he would've missed the way her face became closed off, her expression becoming blank and her eyes empty and unfocused.

'Lils, please, talk to me. Everyone's worried, though James is going absolutely mental.'

He saw the moment her mask began to slowly peel off, leaving her face pale and pained. Standing up, she pulled out a crumpled letter from her jeans and gave it to him.

'Read it and find out for yourself.'

He watched in puzzlement as she made her way to a corner of the room, only to blink as it expanded and changed. A large portion of the room no longer resembled the Gryffindor common room, but rather like the Duelling Room at Potter Manor. Lily set up the training dummies that Sirius and James had been begging Mr. Potter to let them use since fourth year, with rather minimal success. She set them to the Auror Training Level, and he opened his mouth, ready to warn her as to just what that would entail. Looking at her face once more, he reconsidered.

_She'll hex me if I think she can't handle it. Maybe this is one thing that she'll have to figure out on her own._

His jaw nearly hit the floor and his eyes were wide once she began tearing each dummy apart. Swirling, twirling, ducking, and dodging combined, her movements were efficient yet graceful. She alternated between both offensive and defensive, and he could only gape as she jinxed, hexed and charmed them all.

The number of felled dummies continued to grow, and Sirius began to feel like he was intruding on a ritual.

_Apparently, Evans also figured out that duelling could be rather relaxing, though she knows better than to hex actual people, unless she was certain she wouldn’t get caught._

He watched her until he recognized it for what it was; a distraction. Whatever was in the letter, she did not want to see his reaction, be it his pity, anger or whatever else she might think might be induced by reading the contents. As he began reading, he was thankful for the chance to compose his own mask before he spoke with his fiery friend.

_Lily Evans,_

_It has come to my attention, courtesy of our dear Mother, that it is time once more to send my weekly letter. Well, here it is._

_Vernon and I are doing great. Such a strong relationship as ours is built upon agreement. For example; what we should make for supper, which month we want to be married in –oh, did I forget to mention? We're engaged. –and the fact that you are absolutely forbidden from being involved in the wedding in any way, shape, or form. The only reason you're still invited is because Mum insists._

_Vernon doesn't like you. He thinks you're a freak and that you belong at that vile and abnormal school. Quite frankly, I agree. You don't belong at home, and you never have. So why don't you just stay at your freakish school for good. I'm sure Mum and Dad would prefer it; they just don't want to hurt your feelings._

_Stay away from me and Vernon, as well as Mum and Dad. You'll save us all a lot of pain if we never have to see you again. Stay away from us, for good. From now on, as far as weekly letters go, don't even bother looking at mine; they'll all just be blank. Likewise, whether your own letters to me are blank or not, they will go straight into the rubbish unopened._

_~Petunia Evans._

Sirius took a moment to calm his swirling thoughts by continuing to observe his friend. He had a feeling that the shine on her face was not merely caused by sweat, though whether they were tears of frustration or sadness, Sirius didn't know. As she defeated all twelve remaining dummies with one jinx, she turned to him. She approached him warily, her mask once more intact, and sank to the ground in front of the fireplace. He joined her on the floor, whistling his approval at the piles of ash that remained.

'Did you know that James and I have been trying for years to convince Mr. Potter to let us train with even the lower settings of those dummies?' When she started looking sheepish, he continued before she could even defend herself. 'I didn't even recognize some of those spells, Lils. What've you been up to, hmmm?' He queried, a shrewd smirk sneaking its way onto his face.

'I've had a lot of free time over the years. Severus and I used to spend most of our time in the library –it was one of the only house-neutral zones where we could spend time together, especially since the famous Marauders wouldn't be caught dead in there,' she smiled taking the sting out of her words. He never really realized how horrible they'd probably made her life, having to sneak around to be able to see her best friend. The fact that he despised her previous best friend did not matter, only the outcomes it had caused to Lily's life.

He refused to allow the expression of pity to break through his mask, as he knew that Lily would not appreciate it, but he made his voice was as sincere as it could be before he said, 'I'm sorry for forcing you to take refuge in the library; you didn’t do anything nearly bad enough to warrant spending that much time in such a horrible place.'

He smiled in relief when she chuckled, before he started to wonder how to approach the subject at hand. He had no intention of returning Lily to the population of Hogwarts before he was certain that her emotions were under control, if only to avoid having to take James to the hospital wing.

'So. You've now met as much of my sister as Alice and Dorcas have,' she said simply, carefully neutral. He had always respected Lily's bluntness, as it rivalled his own, but he began to recognize why James sometimes became so frustrated with him; it came across too often as accepting of a situation, especially when it came to personal things.

'They haven't met in person?' he wondered. He hoped that by going slowly, he could build his way up before knocking down the wall separating her from her emotions, knowing that it always, sadly, worked on him when James did it.

'Nope. Only Marlene has met Petunia, and that's the main reason why I always go over to her place during the holidays. The problem, is that her parents don't like visitors much, so I'm not allowed over as much as I'd like to be. Home life gets kind of brutal if Petunia and I are in close proximity to each other for extended –or shortened –periods of time, so I was pretty ecstatic that she had spent so much time with _Vermin,'_ she snarled, 'over the summer as she had. Anything was better than the shouting matches of the previous summer. They weren't as frequent, though whenever she heard me talking about school or my friends, she'd go on another rampage and the shouting would start up again. I didn't even have Snape this year.'

‘I'm guessing Remus knows all of this, because of how often he visited you, right?' he asked. When she nodded her head in agreement, he let out another whistle, only this one rang more morose than anything else, 'What do your parents make off all of this?'

'Mum's as optimistic as always, despite the fact that we haven't had a conversation longer than thirty seconds without any shouting since the end of the summer after first year. Dad tries to stay out of it, but he isn't unsympathetic. He just doesn't want to be the one to tell Mum that her daughters won't ever be friends again.'

'I grew up surrounded by Bellatrix, Narcissa, Reg, Avery and basically all the pureblooded Slytherins here. There were countless dinner parties, balls, banquets and anything else that gave all the families an excuse to get together and show off their ‘ _nobility_ ’. By the age of two, I had my own dress robes, completely tailored to myself with the family crest and the motto, ‘ _Toujours_ _Pur_ ’ on every article of clothing I had –even my underwear.' As she snorted, he allowed himself a small smile as he leaned back against the chair. 'That all stopped once I was sorted into Gryffindor. All those dinner parties and balls and banquets continued to be held, only I was no longer being dragged along to all of them. I attended only the most known functions, and only because it would be extremely rude that such a prominent and powerful family not grace the function with its entirety, even the Gryffindor outcast. My cousins stopped talking to me and the adults didn't treat me much better than how they treated their house elves. At home, it was even worse. Dear old Dad drank quite a bit, which was always fun to handle, and Mum refused to admit to the Blood Traitor's existence in her own house. James, Remus, and Peter snuck in a few times, but it wasn't until August that my summer usually started, and that was only because I would be allowed to escape to the Potter's.

'Once, after second year, I charmed everything in my room red as soon as I learned the enchantments, and put up a Permanent Sticking Charm on a Gryffindor banner. Mum raged for weeks after that. I think she also figured out that I only took Muggle Studies to piss her off, but Merlin, it worked. You should've seen her face when she saw that I had achieved an O on my OWL for that class. Every year, I made sure I got an O on the exams, and every year I went a week without supper.

'The day after we got off the train this summer, I showed up at the Potters'. It had barely been twelve hours, but dad had already started drinking and started off on a rampage about blood purity. He tried to "beat into me" the right way of thinking, about how werewolves, house elves, muggleborns and everything else was inferior to us, and how Voldemort had the right idea all along. He wanted me to join up with the bastard, saying how it would all be forgiven if I could ‘take down Fleamont Potter for the Dark Lord’, since he's looked up to by many at the Ministry. Instead, I ran off to warn Mr. Potter and ended up moving in. I promised myself and Mr. Potter that I wouldn’t tell anyone, James still doesn't know. I’m telling you this, Evans, because you need to know that you aren’t alone. You aren’t the only one that has a really shitty family, and more than that, family isn’t only about blood. We can choose our own family, with people that will always be there for you. That’s what we are, Evans, we’re your family.’

Sirius watched as Lily processed everything he told her, feeling warm-hearted at the look in her eyes, like she couldn’t quite believe that she had people in her corner. He felt extremely protective of her, knowing that this couldn’t compare to how James felt.

‘I’m warning you now, James gets supper protective. He saw what my Dad did when I kept refusing everything Voldemort stood for, especially the werewolves and muggleborns bit–'

'Well, yeah. Obviously. What with Remus and everything.' She muttered. As Sirius froze, gaping, only to begin swearing vehemently, she looked at him with questioning incredulity. 'Did you really think I hadn't figured it out? Honestly, we patrolled together last year, unless he had to switch shifts for some ridiculous reason. Plus, his Aunt Margaret has died about ten times since third year alone.'

'You've known since third year?!' Sirius asked, incredulously.

'I notice things,' she shrugged apologetically. 'As far as I'm concerned, he's just got a Furry Little Problem. Marlene and Dorcas thinks it's a rabbit, but that's only because I overheard James saying that to some fifth years and I needed an excuse to give him extra chocolate near the full moon and for why he looked so peachy.'

'That's exactly what James has been calling it since second year,' his eyes twinkled before something crashed down on him and he swore once again. 'Does Moony know that you know?'

'Of course not. If he brings it up, I won't deny it, but it isn't my business. If he's being an idiot over it, I'll set him straight whether or not he knows that I'm aware of the situation. He's a good friend, and he's too selfless for his own good.'

'Damn, Evans, I think you'd get along just fine with the Marauders, you know that?'

‘Thanks, Sirius. I think I just might,’ she said with a small smile, looking more peaceful than she had all day.

Sirius noticed that her mask had finally fallen away.

OoOoO

As they re-joined their classmates for supper that evening, Sirius and Lily received the odd look from many of their friends, though Remus and James just looked happy that Lily had shown up. Sirius knew that James would question him later on what happened, as well as why he’d lied to him, but all Sirius really wanted to do was eat his meal.

'Woah, Padfoot. Slow down. You're wolfing your food down almost as fast as Remus.'

As Remus had just stuffed a forkful of chicken from his second helping into his mouth, all the boy could say to his defense was 'Shuddup Pwongs.'

'You must be _barking_ mad, James. I do not _wolf_ anything down.' Retorted Sirius. He had seen out of the corner of his eye that Lily had worked extremely hard to hide her grin at James' comments, though he knew that she was unaware of the double meaning behind his own words. _Let's see how long that'll last_.


	13. Chapter 13

September went by in a swirl of red, yellow, and brown. The Quidditch teams were practicing with a fervor that left the pitch nearly unrecognizable in its destruction. The Gryffindors and Slytherins in particular were most destructive as they prepared for the first match of the season.

Everyone was on high alert, as tensions between Slytherin and Gryffindor crackled and led to many confrontations. The Gryffindors as a House decided against many team member’s opinions and provided an escorted guard in the corridors between classes to make sure that the Slytherins didn't try anything. The double potions lesson the Monday morning was particularly hard for the newest beater on the team.

'Sirius, don't. You can't just curse everyone on their team because I fell, especially knowing know how clumsy I am. ' Lily said, slipping into her seat next to Marlene. She turned around to face James and Sirius once again, both of whom had taken the table directly behind them.

'Doesn't mean they don't deserve it though,' Sirius scowled, much to James and Marlene's mounting amusement.

'Doesn't mean I won't give you detention for it,' she retorted. At James’ snicker, Lily turned her unwavering gaze to him and said, 'and don't think I won't make his detention on the day of the match just because he's my partner.' James laughter ceased immediately and he turned to berate his best friend. Marlene briefly wondered whether his discontented facial expression was due to one of his starting players missing the match, or Lily calling Sirius her partner.

'Lils, you have to admit though, you can usually manage not sprawling on your arse and sliding three feet down the corridor. It looked like you had coated your arse in butter or something,' Marlene argued, trying to give James and Sirius a chance to avoid detention, for once.

'Hey! It wasn't _that_ –' Lily tried.

'Yes, it was.' Marlene said bluntly, allowing a small smile at the memory.

'Fine then. Maybe it was bad. I dunno, Filch might've just done the floors or something,' Lily tried, praying that her friends would leave it at that, all the while knowing that they wouldn't.

'Oh _absolutely_. Just as Avery, Bellatrix and Mulciber just happened to walk by, right?' retorted James, an angry tint coloring his face. James, Sirius, and Marlene all turned in their seats to glare across the dungeon classroom to Avery, the sole offending student in their year. Lily sighed in defeat and slouched further into her chair. She'd hoped that her friends hadn't noticed them standing there, even though she had most definitely heard the spitefully snarled 'Mudblood' in the disgusted drawl of Bellatrix just before she tripped. She wasn't an idiot, but she needed to keep Sirius and James out of detention –at least until the match is over.

Professor Slughorn entered the classroom, robes swirling, already discussing today’s potion. Lily puffed out a breath in relief Slughorn’s entrance having halted the assault for now. Once the Professor gave them their instructions, the class got out their potions ingredients and began to brew the befuddlement draught _._ Cursing, Lily realized that she was out of sneezewort and went to the storage closet in the corner of the room. While looking for the ingredient, Lily tensed when she recognized the hand that grabbed the scurvy grass to her left.

'Lily, please; I'm sorry, okay?'

'Leave me alone, Severus,' she said, avoiding eye contact by continuing her nearly futile search for the potion ingredient. With a prayer of gratitude, she reached up her hand to grab it, just as he grabbed her shoulders and spun her to face him.

'Lils, please. You're my best friend. Aren't I yours?' he pleaded. Green met black, and it took all of her will to not forget the last two encounters she'd had with the boy. Their desperate need filled her with a terrible pity that left her heart aching and pleading, wanting to return to him and offer any comfort that she could. However, pity was quickly replaced by a consuming anger, enraging her.

'I don't particularly feel like being best friends with someone like _you_ ,' she hissed. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she continued, 'nor do I think your friends would be thrilled with the idea of you being friends with a _mudblood_.' She snarled, storming away. When she sat back in her seat, she realized she didn't have the sneezewort, and she clamped her teeth shut against the cursing that threatened to spill over. Lily tried to insert a calmness into her voice that she most certainly didn't feel when asking Marlene if she could borrow some of hers.

Pointedly ignoring her questioning glance, Lily accepted the ingredient from Marlene and made a decision. Lily quickly bent down and began riffling through her bag. With a small victorious smirk, she withdrew the ballpoint pen she had been doubting packing since the summer and, meeting his gaze across the room, stared Severus down beginning to take her own notes s in the textbook, the ink swirling onto the page in a fury.

'Evans, what the hell is that?' inquired Sirius, choosing to ignore the snippets of the hissing match between Lily and Snape that he had overheard.

'It's a pen; here, I've got plenty in my bag. Just push down on the top and release, and then write like you usually would.'

'But what about the inkwell? How do you refill them?' James wondered, as he too took one. Marlene had seen Evans use them since first year, and knew that her best friend had always preferred pens over quills. She smiled as she saw the look of wonder appear on Sirius’ face as the pen clicked to life under his thumb.

'You don't need an inkwell, you just buy a new pen. They're very cheap in the Muggle world. You can get a whole whack of different colours too.'

'What? Really?! Why don't we use them? Seems like they'd save a lot of time, don't you think, Padfoot?' Much to their amusement, Sirius was too busy clicking the pen repeatedly on and off to pay attention, a smile of wondrous glee covering his features.

OoOoO

At breakfast on Wednesday, James was surprised as a letter landed right in the middle of his breakfast, courtesy of the Potter family owl. Wiping the eggs off the letter, he opened it and began reading his mother's familiar script.

_Dear James (and Sirius, of whom I am certain is reading this over James' shoulder),_

_How has your first month back been? The house has been much too quiet without you and Sirius lately; there hasn't been an explosion in weeks! Your father has tried his best though, but that has more to do with him volunteering to train some Aurors on his free time in the Duelling Room than pranking or brewing any potions. (They seem to be improving, but none can beat your father, and he still hasn't managed to beat the entire thing again. I think he's starting to wonder if that one time was all a fluke, but if his determination to keep on practicing because of his pride is what keeps him alive for as long as possible, I'm okay with that.)_

_Speaking of your activities, make sure to keep an eye on Sirius for me, and so help me, if you two don't eat enough, I will yell at the both of you over Christmas break. And for the love of Merlin, please make sure that you two get your robes washed at least once a week; I refuse to allow my boys to smell worse than the Giant Squid._

_Twitch misses you lot dearly, though I do hear him bemoaning the absences of both Remus and, surprisingly, Lily Evans –don't think I won't worm my information out of either you or Sirius, (I don't particularly care who), as long as I know if I need to make up some homemade desserts for the girl._

_If I don't hear from the two of you by the end of the week, my next letter will be a Howler –and don't you think I won't, young men. I found this new charm that increases the power of both the voice and the explosion, but your father hasn't done anything yet to warrant me sending him one at work, and I'm not above wasting such a perfect opportunity._

_Love, Mum_

James couldn't keep the grin off of his face for the entire day after reading the letter from his Mum, though he did wince slightly at her mention of the howler. With Sirius, in fact, reading over his shoulder, he couldn't quite manage to squash the blush that arose with her mention of Lily. Of course, Sirius kept bringing it up whenever he could get away with it, causing James to retaliate by replying to Mrs. Potter and casually mentioning that Sirius was in detention at the time for pranking the extremely well-liked Marlene McKinnon (the school doesn't take too kindly upon silencing someone repeatedly whenever they walk into a classroom). James continued smiling until Sirius jinxed his hair the exact same color as Lily's.

OoOoO

The morning of the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor dawned bright and early. As per their pre-game routine, James and Sirius made their way down to the common room on their way to get an extra early breakfast and a heavy warm up on the pitch before the even rest of the team awoke. They stepped into the room and blinked in shock at seeing the rumpled form of a prone redhead dozing fitfully on the couch, curled up in a foetal position. As she began whimpering, James looked at her face closely, and he didn't like what he saw.

'She looks like shit.' he whispered, gaping at the unaware Lily.

'Marlene hasn't said anything about this, d'you reckon she doesn't even know?' Sirius asked, baffled that Lily could keep something like this from her best friend. The boys continued studying her, taking note of the horrendous bags that were visible under her eyes. They had to be at least a few days in the making, but neither boy had seen them. 'Must've been one hell of a glamour charm to keep those hidden. It looks like she hasn't slept in a week!' Sirius commented, angered slightly that she felt she had to hide things like this from them.

'Lily? C'mon Lils. Time to wake up.' James gently tried to shake her awake, knowing that it was best to not make her angry this early in the morning.

When he heard her muffled groaning, Sirius decided that it was _his_ turn to try waking her up. He sat right on her lap, and poked her in the ear.

'Morning Evans!' he smiled cheerfully as she gave a shriek of surprise and started swearing at him, 'If you wanted to join us for our heavy-duty warm up on the pitch, why didn't you just ask us last night, then, huh?'

'Sod off, Black. And _get off_ my lap before I hex you to the Hospital Wing and back, you dumbass!' she tried shaking him off, succeeding only because he knew for certain that she was awake.

As Lily suddenly raced up to her rooms, most likely to use the loo, James couldn't help but call out to her quickly retreating back, 'We'll just wait for you here, shall we? Wouldn't want you to have to rush to put on your glamour charm?'

As he heard her continued muttered bouts of profanities, James couldn't help the grin that covered his face –nor the eyes that wandered admiringly over her retreating, long legs, appreciating her short pyjama shorts all the more for it.

OoOoO

'And the Quaffle is taken immediately by McKinnon —amazing Chaser, and rather attractive too —'

'Marcus!' admonished Professor McGonagall, while the sixth year Hufflepuff merely shrugged offhandedly _._

'Anyways, McKinnon passes to Potter, just as the Slytherins retaliate with sending the bludger straight at him, and –Oh!' the crowd gasped as cheers rang out through three quarters of the stands, with large booing trying to make itself heard in the remaining green coloured section 'And he's saved by Evans! Wonderful beater, that girl is. Too bad Potter's had a claim on her since first year –'

'Marcus Steeling!' Professor McGonagall shrieked.

'C'mon Professor, you know it's true. That boy's _whipped_!' He smiled as laughter rang out across the stands and continued. 'Anyway, Evans saved Potter's arse, allowing the Gryffindors to take the lead, 140 to 130. Watch out, the Slytherins look like they're getting a bit antsy out there.'

As the commentary continued on, Lily couldn't help the bright smile that bloomed over her face. As she soared all over the pitch on her wonderful new broom. Lily still could not believe the school would buy someone such an amazing broom (a Star Shooter 145, the best broom for the beater position), she _could_ believe that James would, also going to the trouble of claiming it had been from the school. She had been dealing with the conflicting emotions of wanting to strangle him and kiss him all week because of it.

She and Sirius circled their team, bats at the ready to defend what was theirs, and she shot him a smile. The practices over the last month, as well as during the summer, had helped immensely. In addition to becoming close off the pitch, they were nearly in sync in their positions as beaters. As she swerved to defend Dorcas, she knew without looking that Sirius would send the other bludger to Mulciber, who had taken the quaffle after the pass from Marlene had failed. They worked so well together that the Slytherin team had started resorting to dirty tricks early on in the game, and yet, thanks to the teamwork between the two Gryffindor Beaters, the Slytherins had barely made any extra points for all their dirty shots. When Sanders, the Gryffindor Seeker, caught the snitch two hours into the game, she landed the Gryffindors an almost unheard-of victory, 390 to 150.

As the teams returned to the ground, the Gryffindors swarmed their beloved team, carrying them all up to the castle on their shoulders, heading to the common room to celebrate. Looking back on it, Lily thought that she had never felt such an amazing thrill of adrenaline. Her smile could've lit up a thousand Patronus charms, both ones cast by her, as well as those cast by James.


	14. Chapter 14

The end of October brought with it the upcoming full moon. The resident Hogwarts werewolf was feeling extremely nervous. Remus had been scheduled to patrol that night with Lily –and she did _not_ like to be left hanging. He gathered the last remains of his Gryffindor courage and squared his shoulders before entering the Common Room and scanning the room for his redheaded friend, finding her at one of the study tables. Sitting down, he blinked at the mountain of books and parchment that was currently hiding the head of brilliant red hair piled up into a knot on the top of her head. He waited for her to pause in her furious writing, and met her eyes briefly when she looked up at him.

'Lily, d'you think I could switch off for our Wednesday night rounds?' asked Remus tentatively, praying that she wouldn't pick apart his feeble excuse of a sick aunt that he had used a few times already. However, much to his surprise, she didn't even look at him oddly. Her gaze, while not pitying, shone of compassion and understanding. She pulled forward her copy of the Prefect schedule and looked for the night in question.

'Hmm…' she muttered, biting her bottom lip while her eyes continued to scan the week’s schedule. 'What about Saturday night, after the Hogsmeade weekend? You can swap with Bryan Peters, so long as Nick approves it.'

'Sure. Thanks Lily. I'll ask him if he'd mind and then I'll go and talk to Nick.' Remus left the room extremely relieved, wondering why she'd have wanted to switch that particular night –he was pleasantly surprised, as it would give him time to be completely healed by then, but he doubted that had been _her_ reasoning.

 _Maybe I should just keep this to myself_ , he thought, _I'd hate to be there if James ever found out in case it has anything to do with Peters._

OoOoO

The teachers watched the entire population of 3rd year students and above with dread while their students' excitement level only grew as the week progressed. Homework was handed out in an attempt to quieten them, particularly to Gryffindor students, though they all knew it was a practice in futility. The older student body felt the weight of the galleons in their pockets, demanding to be spent. Many boys rushed in trying to acquire a date, but James was content, as the only girl that he wanted to ask was already joining them.

 _And, sure, so what if it isn't an actual date? At least this way we'll get to spend some time away from the castle together. It's what friends do, and that's what she deserves right now; friends._ Particularly _ones that don't make her cry_.

The guilt that James carried from that day weighed him down. James swore to himself that he would never be the reason for her tears, and he resolved himself to forever be there for Lily as her friend, but nothing else, knowing that she deserved much better than him.

That doesn't mean that his heart agreed with his head.

'So, James, since you're sticking with us for the Hogsmeade trip, does that mean that you're going _stag_?' sniggered Sirius, sitting atop his bed in their dorm room. 'Because I think that Remus is still pretty _unaware_ -'

'-Padfoot, if you finish that sentence, I swear I'll make you have a really _rough_ day.' Remus said, with a pointed look in his eyes. 'Besides, your vocabulary is limited to the number of fingers you have, and you can only spell those that fit on one hand.'

'Oi! Prongs, are you going to let him get away with insulting me like that?' Sirius demanded.

'Nope, don't come crying to me. I learnt my lesson; I still remember what happened the last time I got involved in one of your lovers quarrels.' James sniggered. He dashed out of the dormitory before either could retaliate and headed down into the common room, hoping to join Lily so that he'd be able to finish the Potions essay that was due in two day's time.

OoOoO

Lily patrolled the corridors on Wednesday night, and spent the night frantically looking for some common ground to start a conversation with the 7th year Ravenclaw Prefect; though she had been around him ever since last year, they had never really spoken to each other.

 _Remus being fully recovered before his shift was the priority, and at least I'm not with Severus_. She thought gratefully; it had been the only other available option to switch.

'So, er, how's your NEWT year coming along? Is it as horrible as everyone claims?' she asked after trying, and failing, to find anything else to talk about. _Not that the silence_ was _awkward or anything, but it was definitely getting there_.

'Horrible? No. Stressful? Bloody hell yes.' Bryan said, grimacing. She had to look up slightly to meet his bright blue eyes. He shook his wavy brown hair out of his eyes with a twitchy motion that looked like it would strain his neck someday soon. 'The material they cover is more interesting, but the homework and the expectations are a lot higher than what they were before. Three Ravenclaws have already cried due to McGonagall's grading.'

'Really? It's only October,' she said, aghast.

'Tell me about it. I've been trying to keep up with all the homework myself, but it's a pretty heavy load, to be honest.'

'Bloody hell. I remember I had a system going in my OWL year where I'd get the theory part done first, since it was always collected for grading. At least during the class period, I could always practice the incantations silently and the wand movements under my desk, with or without the teacher giving us time for the practical aspect; it helped me stay up to date on homework –the mental stability was just an added bonus,' she laughed. As they turned the corner, their laughter had died down just enough to hear the unmistakable sound of giggling coming from a broom cupboard.

'Ha; your turn,' Bryan said, a gleeful smile showing brilliant white teeth.

With a mock-glare, Lily turned and yanked the cupboard door open, her eyes on the ceiling far above. 'Out. Now.'

The two seventh year students tumbled out and she gave them a minute to fix their clothes. 'I’d expect seventh years would be aware of the curfew. Especially since it started more than half an hour ago.' As she got a reluctant nod from the Ravenclaw girl, and a guilty blush on the Hufflepuff boy's cheeks, Lily couldn't help noticing the mortified expression of Bryan at having caught one of his friends.

'Good. Then I won't have to explain the loss of ten House points each to you, nor the _separate_ detentions with your Heads of House.' At their protestant looks, Lily gave them a look that screamed of disapproval. 'Come on. A broom cupboard? It's rather deserving; at least around a Professor, you have _some_ hope of earning some class. Get to your Common Rooms before I stick a mop back where I'm sure it was, at some point.' They scurried off and Lily took a moment to compose herself until she was sure that her mortification lessened, if only a little. Turning around to face Bryan, she waited until he got over his own shock at, what she assumed was caused by seeing one of his friends stumbling out of a broom cupboard. Her hopes were dashed however, when their eyes met and he burst out laughing.

'I –have –never – _ever_ -in my days –seen someone reprimand someone so thoroughly,' he gasped, clutching his sides as he leaned against the wall for support. 'Let alone while sassing them throughout the entire thing,' he started to laugh once again and had to run to catch up as Lily left him behind.

'Speaking of your lecturing, I hate to be thought as unoriginal, but I've got to ask; what's up with you and Potter?' Bryan asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively with a smile.

'James? Nothing; we're just friends.' Lily said firmly, wondering where this was going.

'Really?' He rebutted with disbelief, 'You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but no one in the entire school thinks that you two are "just friends",' After a few minutes where Lily refused to comment any further, they moved onto different topics, patrolling the school long after it grew dark and quiet.

It was just nearing midnight when they approached the tower that lead to the Gryffindor common room, having finally finished with their rounds.

'I actually didn't mind patrols for once,' Lily laughed 'Maybe we could do this again sometime?'

Bryan chuckled in response and asked hesitantly, 'Or maybe I could accompany you to Hogsmeade this weekend? If you're not going with someone else already, of course,' he said uncertainly.

'I'd love to.' Lily smiled. 'Meet in the Entrance Hall around ten?'

'Sounds good. Night Lily,' after brushing his hand over her shoulder, he began walking down the hallway with a spring in his step. Just as Lily entered the common room, a pleased smile made its way onto her face, and a small, incredulous laugh escaped its way out of her mouth.

OoOoO

_Lily sat on the grass, transfixed, as she watched everything from afar, unable to move but forced to follow her younger self as she walked to the park with her sister. Hand in hand, they skipped down the sidewalk heading towards a playground, identical toothless smiles on the girls' faces._

_They faltered when a pallid, dark haired boy approached them in ill-fitting, unkempt clothes. He spoke in a cold voice, deeper and much more mature than what one would expect from what looked to be a nine-year-old child. 'Petunia, don't you know what you're holding in your hand? It's a_ Mudblood _. They're dirty, foul, things that aren't worth the space they take up –_ or _the magic.'_

'Magic _?' Petunia shrieked, turning a fuming glare onto her sister. 'What does he mean,_ magic _? Lily?! I thought you stopped being one of them. I thought you chose your family instead of all those_ freaks _!' she snarled, angry tears in her eyes._

' _Tuney –I, -Tuney, please!' Lily begged, gripping her sister’s hand with both of hers, tears trailing down her cheeks. 'I'm not a freak, I'm your sister.' She pleaded hysterically._

' _My sister wouldn't abandon her family like you did; you're not my sister, you're just a Freak!'_

' _And a Mudblood.' Snape added, his onyx eyes glinting maliciously. 'The Dark Lord will come for you, and you'll get everything you deserve –including death. The Dark Lord does not offer death to those who haven't suffered enough by his hand, but he'll solve that soon enough. Just be patient, Mudblood; he'll come for you and your family soon enough.'_

_Petunia and Snape walked away, leaving Lily curled up on the sidewalk and began to weep. With a screech of tires, her parents and sister drove away in the family car. Lily noted in a detached sort of way that her family had packed up everything in the house and stored it all into boxes, most of which were overflowing out of the car. With dawning horror and a terrible, guilty relief, she knew that they had left her alone, in the streets. She also knew, however, that they just might be safe. She looked over and saw Marlene, Sirius and James standing approaching her._

' _P –please,' She cried. 'Help me?'_

' _My family doesn't need another excuse to treat me poorly, thanks.' Sirius snarled, storming away._

' _Why would I touch a Mudblood? Mother and Father have always said that they bring nothing but pain, misery and disgrace.' Marlene questioned disdainfully, sweeping away with a swish of a cloak._

' _Alright there, Evans? No? Well, maybe you should go see the Giant Squid; I heard you preferred it over my company anyways.' James said, almost politely; aside from the anger and vengeance that swirled in his hazel eyes._

' _No! Please! C-c-come back,' she sobbed, her voice feeble in between its gasps and raw, pitiful moans that escaped their way out of her lips. She saw Snape approach her whimpering form and her vision blurred. Suddenly, his face swam into view, his features showing only disgust and triumph._

' _The Dark Lord will reward them immensely for their views. Just as he will reward myself for delivering you unto him.' Snape said, as he grabbed her leg and –with a scream of pain breaking free of her mouth –the young Lily, who had at some point merged with the older Lily, fell into the oblivion in between the portkey locations._

Lily awoke with a muffled scream, thankful she had taken to casting silencing spells around her curtains before she went to bed. She untangled herself from her covers, standing with a groan that had very little to do with it being only four in the morning,.

After she had gotten out of the steaming shower, Lily got ready, applying the charms to hide the ever-growing bags under her eyes, and made her way downstairs to the common room.

'Morning Sirius, what's got you up so early?' she asked quietly, once she noticed him sitting across from her favourite arm chair by the fire.

'Just waiting to see how long you'd hold out for. You got what, five hours of sleep?' He retorted, shaking himself out of his daze. At her guilty expression, he sighed, 'Not even, right?'

'Four. I got four hours.' she murmured, ashamed. She plopped down into her own chair, running her hands through her hair in frustration.

'Do you want to talk about it?' he asked, forcing her to make eye contact. She hurriedly looked away, staring back at the dying embers of the fire.

'Not particularly.' She mumbled. He left it at that, moving on to talking about plans for the upcoming Hogsmeade visit.

'Oh, um, about that; I'm going with Bryan Peters, so I might not see you guys around all that much.' She said, still staring dazedly at what was left of the fire. With a small twirl of her wand, the fire was roaring, blazing heat pouring off of it in waves. Sirius figured that'd be James' reaction when he found out about this, but he decided that he'd just need to keep a constant silencing charm around his friend for the rest of the week; Sirius had no intention of losing Lily as a friend because James couldn't keep his mouth shut.

'Isn't he the 7th year Prefect that you switched shifts with for Remus?' he asked.

'Yeah; I was trying to give Remus enough time to recover, and it was either him or Snape,' she answered dejectedly. 'Speaking of Remus, how's he doing? When does he usually get back?'

'He's usually in the Hospital Wing by now. We usually stay up until we can see him make his way back and then go to bed, but I needed to check something first.'

When he looked pointedly at her, she guiltily shifted her gaze to the fire. In doing so, she did not see him wave his wand, but she would've been hard pressed to miss his sharp intake of breath; he had cancelled the concealing charm on her face. She turned her wide, bloodshot eyes to him in panic, but he'd already regained enough of his composure to be able to overlook her features and stare only at the emotions sprawling across her face. Exhaustion. Fear. Panic. Shame.

He took in all of these emotions, watching as her red, bloodshot eyes shut tight against the judgement that she thought would be awaiting her, looking all the more like a racoon with the dark purple bags. The contrast was so sharp to her pale skin, it practically glowed blue in the light of the fire. _Oh_ _Lily_.

'C'mon Lils,' He sighed.

He reached over to her and, taking her hand, dragged her upright. Just as he began leading her towards the painting of the Fat Lady, she questioned, 'Where are you taking me, Sirius?'

'The kitchens.' he answered, pulling her out of the portrait hole and dragging her along. 'You need chocolate cake.'

Lily couldn't help the rush of gratitude that followed this statement, and for the first time in a while, she sported a sincere smiled.

OoOoO

That morning at breakfast, Sirius' heart went out to James. Disappointment was all too present on James' face when Lily announced her plans for the weekend. James had barely enough time to control his disappointment before Lily stopped laughing at the girls' dramatic relief for her.

'You won't die alone!' Alice exclaimed, jokingly relieved.

'Maybe we can avoid the pet shop for a few more years!' Dorcas teased.

'I'll be free! Marlene yelled gratefully.

'Oh, shut up, the lot of you!' Lily laughed. 'I didn't mean to mess up your plans though; maybe we can all meet up at the Three Broomsticks for lunch or something? I can talk to Bryan at the Prefect meeting later this week.'

'No, no. It's fine. I don't think that'd be an ideal date for Peters.' James said hurriedly, wincing inside at picturing Lily on a date; hearing about it was bad enough.

'Alright then, maybe we'll see you guys around. I need to add some finishing touches to my Charms essay; I'll see you guys in class!' Lily called, dashing out of the great hall with an apple clutched in her hand, two cups of coffee already swirling inside her.

OoOoO

Later that day, Sirius noted that James seemed to have pushed his disappointment aside, leaving only anger. Unfortunately, that meant that he had less and less control on his mouth, especially when he was around a specific redhead.

' _Evans_! Wrong formation, _again_! Ten laps around the pitch, for the ten times you've done it wrong.' James bellowed.

 _It doesn't matter that he deserves it though; James has been going after her the entire practice_. Sirius was not looking forward to be the one forced to listen to them both rant about the other. _Maybe I can pass one of them off on Marlene…_

He watched as Lily growled in frustration, throwing herself into beating the bludgers with as much force as possible. Sirius knew she felt badly for him after seeing him wince whenever a particularly powerful one came soaring over, heading straight for him, but that didn't make her stop.

Once the practice had finally ended, Sirius watched as Lily stormed off the pitch, heading towards the female side of the change rooms to shower. The door was slammed shut, the thud reverberating loudly. Sirius winced, worried for supper that night.


	15. Chapter 15

Minerva McGonagall surveyed the early risers in the Great Hall Halloween morning, watching as the students prepare for the Hogsmeade trip that day. She surveyed as the Sixth Year Prefect sat herself on the bench at the Gryffindor table, immediately reaching for caffeine. Minerva tried to make sense of the differences between the Lily Evans then, and the Lily Evans from a year ago. Relationships aside, Lily looked much worse than she did then. Though Minerva knew how much she loved being a part of Quidditch, as well as how close she was with the Marauders and McKinnon, Lily still looked drawn, exhausted and depressed; even more so than after her fallout with Snape. McGonagall tried to reassure herself that Miss Evans would go to Black, Potter, or even herself should something be seriously wrong, but she had a feeling that Lily would exemplify her most stubborn, Gryffindor side at the most inappropriate times. With her heart in her throat, McGonagall finished her breakfast in contemplative silence.

OoOoO

'Bryan, hey!' Lily called, smiling as she met up with him in front of the Entrance Hall.

'Lily, I’m glad you came,' Bryan said, offering her his arm. ‘Is there anywhere in particular you want to visit?’ They walked down to the gates, linked arm in arm, the wind stirring up her hair and plastering it to her face.

‘Yeah, me too. Will be good to get out of the castle for a while and away from the assignments that are trying to drown me,' she joked, tying her hair up into a high ponytail. She readjusted her Gryffindor scarf while her hand was free, and then linked arms with Bryan once again. ‘I need new quills, but otherwise I’m good to just wander around I guess and grab some lunch. What about you?’

'That sounds good to me, I don’t really need anything. I’ve made lunch reservations for us, but I want to leave that as a surprise.'

‘That works for me,' she agreed, smiling. They walked through the village, going into various shops in the village when they caught their eye, or otherwise just wandered around talking.

She knew as soon as he brought her to Madame Puddifoots that maybe it wasn't going to work out. While she pretended to enjoy herself throughout the meal, the abundant roses, pink hearts, and confetti turned her stomach. There was too much frilly lace, hearts and bright pink to be able to properly stomach the pink-dyed food as well. She appreciated the thought, knowing that many girls would love the 'romantic' aura.

As the couple made their way back up to the school, they parted ways with a kiss on the cheek to their different common rooms.

OoOoO

Marlene knew that James wasn't having the best of days. Lily was off on a date with Bryan, the 7th year Prefect, after she had already made plans to hang out with him, and after seeing how she swapped her Prefect rounds to partner with him instead of Remus.

 _James probably thinks that Lily's serious about the bloke._ No, Marlene knew her best friend better than that; while Lily and Sirius had grown much closer over the past few months, even Sirius didn't quite know how Lily dealt with boys. Marlene was the only one able to differentiate between the ones that Lily just wanted to flirt with, and those that she was serious about; Lily befriended them, preferring to actually get to know the person _before_ she started dating them.

Marlene knew her best friend better than anyone else, which was why she had absolutely no resounding pity for James bloody Potter. Already, Marlene could tell what Lily could not, and that was that Lily was falling for him. Hard.

Marlene spent her day dealing with a moody Potter and the rest of their group of friends, her thoughts stuck on Lily. Marlene just wished her best friend realized the difference she made in their lives; no matter the occasion, Lily always managed to bring the best out of the people she surrounded herself with. Marlene thought that that was why she stuck by Snape for so long, that he was always better in her presence. He wanted to be a better person when he was around her, and now that that stopped, Snape would stop trying.

OoOoO

Later that evening, James and Remus were attempting another game of chess in the Common Room, prompting Sirius to go in search of Lily and Marlene. Considering it was just after supper, he figured their most likely hideaway would be in the Room of Requirement. He pushed open the door and stepped into the miniature version of the Gryffindor Common Room, just in time to hear Lily sigh.

'I'm not sure if magic saved my life or ruined it.' Lily bemoaned, sitting on the floor in front of the fire, staring at the flames.

Internally, Marlene swore.

 _Great, she's going all dark and twisty._ With a look that clearly showed Marlene's train of though, Sirius picked up the conversation for Marlene.

'What do you mean by that, Lils?' He asked, sitting down beside her, appraising her features from his peripheral.

'I don't know,’ she paused, eyes fixed on the flames while she attempted to sort out her thoughts, ‘it's just, magic saved me from being normal, I guess; but it also took me away from everyone –especially from Tuney. I don't think there's any going back, but I don't even know if I want to. I'm such a horrible person.' Lily turned wet, pleading eyes to her two best friends, as Marlene sat down on her other side. She felt Sirius' arm go around her shoulders and Marlene's hand rubbing comforting circles on her back; she didn't even realize she's been crying until she brought her hands to her face and noticed tear tracks trailing down her cheeks.

'No, no, no, you are not a horrible person. Don't let the Muggles get you down, Lil. You're better than that, you know it.' Marlene cooed, sympathy coming off of her in waves, through her touch and in her eyes.

'It's not just any Muggle, Marls. It's my sister!' Lily wailed, dropped her face into her hands.

'Your sister is only jealous of things out of your control. You did nothing wrong, and she's only hurting you to make herself feel better. Don't give her that satisfaction, you're stronger than that.' Sirius stated firmly.

When Lily laid down on her back, eyes lifted towards the ceiling, she wiped her face to rid herself of the last of the tears. 'Thank you,' she whispered, before falling into contemplative silence.


	16. Chapter 16

November passed in a flurry of snow, stress, and schoolwork. The group of Gryffindor sixth years tried to stay optimistic while drowning in the onslaught of assignments. All they could do was to keep their heads down in their books, and count the days until Christmas break –some more optimistically than others.

Peter was looking forward to spending the first week with his mother, who hadn't been feeling well recently, before joining the rest of the Marauders the day after Christmas for the rest of break. Remus would be going over after his own Christmas Day lunch with his parents, trying not to impose on his family as much as he had over the summer holidays –while they never said anything, Remus always got the feeling that they didn't know what to make of his condition. His relationship with his father was especially fraught with tension as he could barely look at his son through his guilt.

Sirius was, of course, staying with the Potters for the duration of the break, and planned on whamming James in the face with a snowball every morning as a means of waking him up.

James would be going home, with his best friend, and not to a empty house –his parents would still work up until Christmas Eve, and so he usually spent time with the house elves and just cooked. This year, though, Sirius would be going straight there, and James could wake him up every morning by dumping a pile of snow on him.

Marlene would be staying home with her family, dreading going to the parties that they had planned, and could only hope to be able to sneak away to write to Lily and the others. Alice, Dorcas and Frank all planned on spending the entirety of Christmas break with their families, though they all promised to write so much that everyone would be sick of them, regardless of the fact that they were miles away.

Lily, however, dreaded her plans; she was going home, and would have to face the sister that had caused her so much pain, in a civil and dignified manner, for as long as they had guests at least. Then she would be free to tell her sister exactly what she thought of being treated like she was unworthy, or a freak. Of course, she had to actually force herself to get on the Hogwarts Express when it departed, but she hoped that the train ride would give her time to gather her courage.

OoOoO

'C'mon Lils, the train's leaving.'

'Okay, okay, I'm coming. Keep your knickers on.' She answered Marlene, hurrying off of the Hogsmeade platform and onto the train. It had been through unspoken agreement that the group would all converge into the Marauders' infamous compartment; the boys sure as hell weren't spending the train ride anywhere else.

Lily sat down in her seat beside James and across from Marlene, and glanced out the window with a small, almost inaudible, sigh. Gathering her conflicting emotions, she locked them away deep down, determined to enjoy the ride before facing her family. Turning back towards the group, she smiled as she listened to the Marauder's planning their return from break prank.

'Peeves has suggested that we use water balloons, but I'm not sure if it'd have the same effect. Plus, he could just be trying to win.' Remus stated as he leaned forward with his hands on his knees, a slight frown distorting the pale scars marring his face. Lily noticed that there hadn't been any new ones since the summer, and was relieved her friends didn’t seem to be in as much pain as usual.

'Why not just jinx the whole batch before-hand? Peter asked.

'Because we won't have access; if we want to do it during the feast, it can't be something that we'd need access to pull off. We could delay it till the morning, but that breaks tradition.' James put in, cracking his neck as he leaned back. 'What about enlisting the House Elves to help?'

'As if Misa would let you four anywhere near the food before the feast. Plus, it's not like you can summon an elf, so how would they even know what to do?' Lily asked, a contemplative frown turning down the corners of her mouth. 'Are you sure that you want to do this prank first? It might be better to save it for the end of the week; go out with a bang and all that.'

'Maybe, and it's not like we can get Peeves to help, with the prank war going on.' Ever since their first year, the Marauders and Peeves have had a prank war the first week back from Christmas Break –something has to come from the two weeks time off, and what better way to spend the break than planning? –and would then spend the next month in detention. The teachers don't even bother assigning the detentions until after the week is over; they know a lost cause when they see one, and the pranks would still happen, even if all four boys were in a detention all night long the night before. The Marauders protest the fact that Peeves pranked just as much as they did and that he didn't get any detentions until fourth year, when McGonagall pointed out that Peeves wasn't alive, much less in her House and under her watch. The Marauders never made that argument again, as they all swore they could still feel the verbal whiplash from her scolding –it didn't stop them from doing the prank war again the next year though, nor the years afterwards.

'We still have two weeks to figure out this prank, maybe we'll just include it in the war later on in the week like Lils said, and do something else for the first night back; we'll have access and we won't have to worry about it.' Sirius said, grumbling.

While they continued coming up with plans for the entire week, Lily relaxed and let her mind roam; for the first time in nearly a month, she didn't think of her family. Instead, she thought about her friends, and how lucky she was to have them –especially when you throw in her emotional state the past few months, and the fact that she really had been a train wreck.

She continued pitching her own ideas, and chuckled at the appreciative glances that were thrown her way.

'How the  _ hell _ were you made a Prefect?' Peter asked reverently, scrutinizing Lily as if wondering how she managed to fool Dumbledore –and everyone else –into thinking she was such a good girl.

'Wormtail, I think Lils has been underestimated by everyone there –I mean, what sane person gives a redhead a position of power? With that temper? I'm dumbfounded that she's managed to behave herself so far.' Remus snorted.

'Lily is unofficially the best Marauder, because of one thing;  _ she never got caught _ .' Sirius joked, just as James wrapped his arm around her shoulders loosely, ruffling her hair in pride at the same time.

She whacked James on the side of his head and smirked. 'That reminds me… It seems as if a certain Quidditch Captain managed to be a certifiable  _ dick _ towards an extremely volatile redheaded Beater, and thought he could get away with it.' As her green eyes twinkled, James swallowed nervously. He missed Lily's arm movements as she grasped her wand and uttered a non-verbal spell, only realizing that something had happened when he heard the others snorting in amusement; it seemed as if she had vanished all of his clothes, leaving him in only his boxers.

'EVANS!' He gasped, scandalized over everyone's peals of laughter.

'Next time you're in a pissy mood, think twice before taking it out on me!' She snarked, charming his entire body pink with another flick of her wand.

_ I was in a pissy mood  _ because _ of you _ ! He thought, guiltily remembering that he shouldn't have been, just because Lily went on a date. He slouched into the seat with his arms crossed and pouted, cursing himself for stowing his wand in his trunk.

Sirius refused to help out, knowing that the retribution was deserved; he also remembered the reasoning behind his friend's temper. He caught Marlene's eye and they both smiled as they watched Lily casting sly, appreciative glances out of the corner of her eye towards the undressed boy, her face reddening.

'Well, Pete, I think this just proves that Lily really is the best Marauder of them all; after waiting more than a month for revenge, she won't even loose house points over it, because its during the holidays. Plus, she can still cast magic, because there isn't any way the Ministry can trace it.' Marlene said, as Remus took pity on his friend and conjured his clothes back –he seemed to forget the charm to reverse the color though. Marlene noted the semi-relieved, semi-disappointed expression on her best friend's face and looked pointedly at Sirius once again, both of them muffling their smiles afterwards.

OoOoO

Not more than a week later, Sirius was rudely woken at eight in the morning due to a snowball dumped on his face. Grumbling at his best friend's suicidal tendencies, he conjured a pile of snow that covered the entire bed and dumped it on Prong's sleeping form in retaliation.

'Every bloody day. Serves you right for charming yours to go off on an alarm; you tend to leave yourself undefended, dumbass.' He grumbled, laughing as James howled in protest. 'Happy Christmas Eve day, you git. I'll be with the caffeine and the food.' As he made his way towards the kitchen, Sirius chuckled to himself as he heard James' muttered cursing through chattering teeth.  _ We do this every morning; you'd think he'd learn by now _ .

OoOoO

'Mum wants to make sure that you'll have the food ready for when Vernon gets here for brunch. Get up.'

As Lily rolled over in her bed, she heard her sister retreating down the hallway. She knew perfectly well that their mum had told Petunia to make the food, since it was her fiancé that was coming over, but she also knew that her sister would be just as likely to poison her instead. Lily fell out of bed, throwing on sweatpants and a jumper before going downstairs to the kitchen, where the smell of brewing coffee sang to her.

'You'll be jumping off the walls if you have any more.'

'It's only my second cup.' Lily said as she continued to stare out the kitchen window, drinking from the large mug clasped in her hands.

'How many more till you get cracking?' While Mr. Evans knew who had been originally asked to prepare brunch, he knew whose cooking he'd rather eat. He also knew who was more inclined to do so, regardless of who'd been originally asked.

'You seem to be mistaking coffee for motivation, Dad. It's okay, I do it often enough.' Lily said with a sleepy smirk, as she nevertheless started to gather her ingredients. While she mixed the pancake batter, Lily monitored the bacon on the stove and buttered the toast that came out of the toaster. As she handed all of the dirty dishes over to her parents to wash and put away, she smiled serenely; it was her kitchen in the mornings, and one either makes themselves useful, or they make themselves scarce (Petunia always chose the latter).

After putting the only remaining dish, scrambled eggs, on the table, she surveyed her work just as the doorbell rang. With a muffled curse, she ran upstairs to get changed before she had to face Vermin once again, hearing the exchanged holiday's greetings as she closed her bedroom door.

OoOoO

Newly dressed in jeans and a comfy sweater, Lily pulled her hair back into a loose knot before seating herself across from Petunia and Vernon, in between her parents.

'This is lovely, Mr. and Mrs. Evans. The bacon is done wonderfully.' Vernon grumbled his thanks, his voice muffled by equal parts the food he was shovelling into his mouth and the moustache that covered his upper lip.

'Actually, Vernon, Lily did all the cooking this morning! Frank and I just did the dishes.' Sarah Evans laughed, smiling appreciatively towards her youngest daughter. While she may have missed the slowing of Vernon Dursley's eating, her husband did not. Nor did he miss the slightly greenish tinge that had appeared on the young man's face.

'Oh?' Vernon questioned, looking confusedly between Petunia and Lily. 'But, I thought you said that she never did anything around the house, Tunia?' Lily blushed furiously as Petunia tried to shrink into herself, audibly groaning when her father started speaking.

'Nonsense, Vernon. My Lils makes the best breakfasts you've ever had, has since she was ten! We used to do it together, before she kicked me out for messing up some of her more brilliant recipes. You should taste her blueberry scones!'

'Those were hers? But you said…' As Vernon turned to stare at Petunia, Frank saw her flush with embarrassment.

It didn't take a genius to piece together why Vernon thought that Lily did nothing around the house, nor was Frank unaware as to the reason for which Vernon seemed so shocked that Lily's cooking was particularly impressive; he figured it had quite a lot to do with the guilty expression Petunia now bore across her face.

'I, uhm, Vernon, I can explain –' Petunia started, looking pleadingly at her fiancé.

'Mr. Dursley, would I be right to assume that Petunia has been laying false claims to certain aspects regarding Lily?' Frank said, ignoring an embarrassed Lily and an indignant Petunia.

'It would seem so, Mr. Evans. I must be going, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, I mustn't be late to visit my sister, Marge. Petunia, a word before I go?' Grumbling slightly as she rose, Petunia walked him to the door. At first, the conversation between the two at the door went unheard, as no other sounds aside from Petunia's frequent hissing could be understood –at least, not until the shouting started.

'You told me she was a freak! That she was worthless and spiteful and a conniving bitch. And then you give me her cooking? Are you trying to kill me?!'

'But, Vernon, you've had her cooking before!' She suddenly gasped in dismay, and the three Evans' knew that Petunia had clasped her hands in front of her mouth, as was a habit that Lily thought she should've been more indulging towards.

'Pardon me? The only cooking I have eaten here has been what you and your parents have made. Just how much of that statement is the truth?' His voice had thundered, and Lily could suddenly picture the vein in his forehead throbbing as his many necks wobbled, his furry moustache working itself around his nose as the yelling started again. 'You lied to me over your freak sister! She isn't even worth the effort of your deceptiveness, Petunia.'

As the front door slammed, Petunia returned to the dinning room. Glaring at her sister, she spat, 'I hope you're happy now, Freak.' With that, she spun on her heels and raced up to her room, slamming her door shut with enough force to cause the silverware in the armoires to rattle in the dinning room.

'Well. That was rather eventful.' Sarah said, her cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment. Frank patted Lily's hand, as the redhead's face soon matched her hair in colour, due to her mortification.

With a whispered excuse me, Lily left the table and made her way up to her room. Frank noted that she did so in a much more dignified –and silent –manner than her older sister.

  
  



End file.
